The interconnections among the intensity of social network use, anxiety, smartphone addiction and the parent-child relationship of adolescents: A moderated mediation effect

Abstract

To explore the mediation role of smartphone addiction on the relationship between parent-child relationships and the intensity of use of social network sites (SNSs), as well as the moderation effect of anxiety, this research conducted self-report questionnaires of the Social networking site (SNS) Usage Questionnaire, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Smartphone Addiction Scale and Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment with 719 adolescents. The results showed that (1) the parent-child relationship negatively predicts SNS usage and (2) smartphone addiction plays a mediating role in the link between the parent-child relationship and SNS usage. (3) The relationship between the parent-child relationship and SNS usage is moderated by anxiety (on the first mediation path), and low levels of anxiety can mitigate the negative impact of the parent-child relationship on smartphone addiction, thus also mitigating the negative effects of the parent-child relationship on SNS usage. Our conclusion highlighted the vital role of the parent-child relationship and anxiety on the influence of smartphone addiction and the intensity of use of SNSs among adolescents. Our research also provides clinical implications: (1) teachers in high school can adopt family group counseling or emotion regulation workshop to help adolescents to prevent addiction to smartphones and social network sites; (2) we can reduce addictive behaviors by designing a series of intervention sessions to improve parent-child relationships and reduce anxiety for adolescents who have been addicted to smartphone and social network sites.