Rules, role models or overall climate at home?: Relative associations of different family aspects with adolescents' problematic social media use

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to enhance knowledge on which aspects of the family context are most important in relation to adolescents’ at-risk/problematic social media use (SMU). Therefore, we examined the relative contribution to adolescents’ at-risk/problematic SMU of general and Internet-specific family factors related to three different family (sub)systems: parent-child (Internet-specific rule-setting, reactive restrictions towards Internet use, co-use, adolescents’ involvement in rule-setting and positive parenting), parent (parental screen time, phubbing, stress, anxiety and depression) and family (family functioning, family intactness and SES) (sub)system. Method: Questionnaire data came from 403 adolescents (M = 13.51, SD = 2.15) and 396 parents (M = 46.59, SD = 5.29) who participated in wave 1 of the Dutch ‘Digital Family project’. Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that only factors related to the parent-child subsystem remained significant in predicting at risk/problematic SMU when examining predictors related to the parent-child, parent and family (sub)system simultaneously. Specifically, general and Internet-specific parenting practices contributed to the prediction of adolescents’ at-risk/problematic SMU above and beyond each other. Positive parenting and Internet-specific rule-setting seem protective, while parental reactive restrictions towards Internet use could be a risk factor. Conclusion: The results suggest that parental behaviors directed towards the child should be a focus of attention in research on prevention of adolescents’ problematic SMU. In addition, our findings highlight the importance of untangling restrictive mediation (impulsive, in the moment, attempts to limit SMU versus communicating clear rules in advance) when examining its effects.