From Rules to Reactions: The Impact of Parental Mediation on Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents

Abstract

As recent legislative attempts have been made to cut back youth’s social media use to prevent negative outcomes, it is important to understand which types of parental mediation do and do not work in preventing risky social media use among adolescents. This study investigated the effects of two forms of parental restrictions; parental rules, and reactive mediation, on risky/problematic social media use (risky/problematic SMU) among Dutch adolescents. Longitudinal data from the Digital Youth project was used to study both the independent and combined effects of these parental strategies on risky/problematic SMU for two age groups (10-14 and 15-18 years old). Two waves, one year apart were used, including 1305 respondents. Logistic regression analysis revealed that parental rules had a negative effect on risky/problematic SMU, while reactive mediation had a positive effect. Additionally, reactive mediation did not enhance the effect of parental rules on risky/problematic SMU. Age did not significantly moderate the relationship between these parental strategies and risky/problematic SMU. These findings show the need to disentangle different strategies within parental mediation as they might have opposing effects on the development of risky/problematic SMU in adolescents. Parents should be carefully informed in their attempt to prevent the development of addictive social media symptoms in their children. Future research should further explore the effects of, and interplay between, different types of parental restrictions on children's social media use among different age groups.