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Parental Mediation and Adolescents' Internet Use: The Moderating Role of Parenting Style.

ABSTRACT: Internet use can be distinguished into different uses (e.g., leisure-related, learning-related), yet comprehensive studies on how different uses are associated with everyday parenting situations are still lacking. This study attempts to locate parental mediation within broader family contexts and simultaneously considers the relationships among general parenting style, media-specific parenting practices, and adolescents' amount and types of Internet use. Building on survey data collected from 1284 middle school students in China (mean age = 13, SD = 0.79, 48.60% girls), the Latent Profile Analysis identified three child-perceived profiles of general parenting style: slight-engaged, supportive, and rejecting-controller. The subsequent regressions suggested that adolescents with supportive parents reported lower levels of time spent online as well as leisure-related use; more restrictive parental mediation was associated with reduced leisure-related use while more active mediation was associated with more learning-related use. Notably, associations between parental use of active mediation and youth's amount of Internet use and leisure-related use varied based on parenting style profiles. Only for the supportive parenting profile, more use of active mediation was associated with decreased amount of Internet use as well as leisure-related use. These findings have implications on how parents can be more effective in guiding youth's Internet use.

SUBMITTER: Ren W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8978487 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundGiven the growing number of adolescents exhibiting problematic internet use (PIU) and experiencing its harmful consequences, it is important to examine the factors associated with PIU. Existing research has identified perceived parental supportiveness and adolescents' subjective mental well-being as strong predictors of PIU. However, it is unknown how these factors work together in shaping adolescents' engagement in PIU.ObjectiveThis paper aimed to examine the role played by adolescents' perception of parental supportiveness in conjunction with their subjective mental well-being in shaping their PIU.MethodsThe study analyzed one of the Technology & Adolescent Mental Wellness (TAM) data sets that were collected from a nationally representative cross-sectional sample. Adolescents self-reported their internet use behavior, perceived parental supportiveness, and subjective mental well-being through an online research panel survey. Hierarchical linear regression analysis with an interaction term was performed.ResultsA total of 4592 adolescents, aged 12 to 17 years, completed the survey. Adolescents reported a mean age of 14.61 (SD 1.68) and were 46.4% (2130/4592) female and 66.9% (3370/4592) White. Findings revealed that, controlling for adolescents' demographics and social media use, higher levels of perceived parental supportiveness (β=-.285, P<.001) and higher levels of subjective mental well-being (β=-.079, P<.001) were associated with a lower likelihood of adolescent PIU. The moderation analysis showed that the negative association between perceived parental supportiveness and PIU was stronger when adolescents reported high (vs low) levels of mental well-being (β=-.191, P<.001).ConclusionsThis study shows that perceived parental supportiveness was a stronger protective factor than adolescents' mental well-being against PIU. The protective power of perceived parental supportiveness against PIU was strongest when adolescents had high mental well-being. The highest risk of PIU occurred when adolescents' mental well-being was high, but parents were perceived as unsupportive. Our findings suggest that parental supportiveness should be targeted as part of PIU prevention efforts.

Project description:BackgroundThe internet has become the most widely used medium among teenagers, who spend much of their time online, which raises parental concerns. Notwithstanding teens' increased internet use and exposure to online risks, little is yet known about parental internet mediation in local settings. The present research aimed to assess the various dimensions of parental mediation to regulate teens' use of the internet and their predictors.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted in the district of Lahore, Pakistan, among mothers/female caregivers of teens (aged 13-19 years). Only women were interviewed because they are more frequently engaged as primary caregivers than fathers or male caregivers. Furthermore, only qualified and working mothers from the top two professions among women, i.e. academia and medicine, were interviewed. A stratified random sampling technique was adopted, and 347 mothers were interviewed using face-to-face interviews at 11 universities and 11 hospitals/medical colleges. Data were entered and analysed using descriptive, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.ResultsThe findings highlighted that more than 65% of respondents applied highly active mediation of internet safety, around 60% used highly active co-use mediation and more than 56% applied restrictive mediation. In addition, 36% of respondents monitored and 15.3% technically mediated to regulate their teens' use of the internet. The results of the multivariate logistic regression revealed that the majority of respondents were more inclined to adopt active internet safety mediation if they had teens aged 16-19 years, with medium internet addiction, possessed good digital skills, felt confident about their teens' coping appraisal to perform online protection, and considered their teens to have high self-esteem and resilience.ConclusionsThis research found that parental internet mediation is a multifaceted concept used to regulate teens' online activity and enhance a resilient approach to reduce the risks associated with use of the internet. The researchers recommend developing parental guidelines, e-safety resource material, local support networks and community programmes to educate parents, teachers and teens in order to raise awareness and promote resilient pathways amongst teens.

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Parental Mediation and Adolescents' Internet Use: The Moderating Role of Parenting Style.

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