Positive family relationships in a digital age: Hearing the voice of young people

Abstract

This study focused on young people's perspectives about family relationships and how they can be strengthened or weakened through digital media practices. Located in Melbourne, Australia, 20 participants aged between 13 and 17 years were interviewed about how digital devices and practices shaped the way they interacted with family. The thematic analysis points to the young people's commitment to family cohesion. This was demonstrated through responsible use of social media, admitting the need for device-free time, acknowledging the challenges of being online, and their sense of responsibility as a family member, which informed and shaped the way they individually acted.

Parental Internet practices in the family system: Restrictive mediation, problematic Internet use, and adolescents’ age-related variations in perceptions of parent-child relationship quality

“…To the authors' knowledge, no research specifically examines how restrictive mediation relates to the overall relationship quality between adolescents and parents. However, there is related evidence from work that suggests that adolescents may feel more negatively towards their parents in response to restrictive mediation (Johnson & Francis, 2022;Nathanson, 2002;Rony & Ahmed, 2021;Young & Tully, 2023). In interviews with teens in Bangladesh, Rony and Ahmed (2021) found that teens who were frustrated with parents' restrictive mediation wanted to reduce contact with their parents.…”

“…Restrictive mediation is particularly contentious in adolescence and is associated with tension within the family system (e.g., Byrne & Lee, 2011; Johnson & Francis, 2022; Nathanson, 2002; Rony & Ahmed, 2021; Symons, Ponnet, Walrave, & Heirman, 2017). Given the aim of this study to investigate media and the parent-child relationship, restrictive mediation is the focus of the current study.…”

“…In interviews with teens in Bangladesh, Rony and Ahmed (2021) found that teens who were frustrated with parents’ restrictive mediation wanted to reduce contact with their parents. Interviews with Australian teens conducted by Johnson and Francis (2022) revealed that restrictive mediation often made teens feel misunderstood or distrusted by their parents. Relatedly, in a survey of American young adults’ retrospective reports of parental mediation of sexual and violent TV content in high school, Nathanson (2002) found that restrictive mediation was significantly associated with negative retrospective attitudes toward parents, while other mediation types were not (Nathanson, 2002).…”