Self-Control, Parental Monitoring, and Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use: Testing the Interactive Effect and Its Gender Differences

Abstract

Previous studies have revealed that self-control was one of the critical factors of adolescent problematic mobile phone use. Few studies, however, have explored the interaction of internal control force (i.e., self-control) and external control force such as parental monitoring. The present study tested the interactive effect of self-control and parental monitoring on adolescent problematic mobile phone use and its gender differences. A sample of 926 adolescents completed our anonymous self-report survey. Results showed that self-control and parental monitoring negatively predicted problematic mobile phone use, while gender positively predicted problematic mobile phone use. Self-control and parental monitoring had an interactive effect on problematic mobile phone use, with the effect of self-control on problematic mobile phone use being stronger for adolescents with low levels of parental monitoring than for those with high levels of parental monitoring. Self-control and gender had an interactive effect on problematic mobile phone use, with the effect of self-control on adolescent problematic mobile phone use being stronger in girls than in boys. Moreover, there were significant gender differences in the interaction of self-control and parental monitoring, in that the interactive effect of self-control and parental monitoring on problematic mobile phone use was more potent in girls than in boys. The findings reveal how the internal control force (i.e., self-control) and external control force (i.e., parental monitoring) work together in explaining adolescent problematic mobile phone use and uncover the potential gender differences in exploring adolescent problematic mobile phone use from the individual-environment perspective. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Parental Psychological Aggression and Phubbing in Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…Moreover, girls often have high levels of self-control than boys, which makes girls are less susceptible to problematic mobile phone use. 56 However, results did not find the moderating effect of sex in the direct path (parental psychological aggression to phubbing) and second path (anxiety to phubbing) of the mediation model. Parental psychological aggression as a high prevalent and less serious parental discipline has negative influence on individuals regardless of sex and there are no sex differences in this effect.…”

“…Possible explanations may be that girls are more physically and psychologically mature than boys in the period of junior middle school students. Moreover, girls often have high levels of self-control than boys, which makes girls are less susceptible to problematic mobile phone use [ 56 ]. However, results did not find the moderating effect of sex in the direct path (parental psychological aggression to phubbing) and second path (anxiety to phubbing) of the mediation model.…”

Online Gaming Bahavior Among Junior High School Students: The Role of Parental Control, Fear of Missing Out (Fomo), and Self-Control

“…These result was relevant with a study conducted by Han et al (2017). This condition occurred because adolescents who have good self-control will prevent themselves from carrying out negative actions, both detrimental to themselves and others around (Hu & Wang, 2022).…”

Associations between parental mediation and adolescents' internet addiction: The role of parent–child relationship and adolescents' grades

“…However, the result that parental monitoring positively predicted IA level was controversial with some previous findings (e.g., Lin et al, 2009;Chang et al, 2015;Ding et al, 2017) that parental monitoring inhibits adolescents' IA level. As pointed out by Hu and Wang (2022) in a study on adolescents' problematic mobile phone usage, the effect of parental monitoring on their addictive behavior interacts with adolescents' self-control level. Therefore, we suggest that the relationship between parental monitoring and adolescents' IA level should be further compared between adolescents with lowand high-self-control.…”