In recent years, mobile phone use has become popular around the world. After smartphone products were launched, countless technological developments followed.
Based on the development of Internet technology use and application clients, smartphone use can promote productivity and information search, social information and interaction (social media), leisure and relaxation, entertainment, economic activities, etc.
Although smartphones have many advantages, they also bring many negative effects. A growing body of research finds that excessive cell phone use interferes with people's daily lives.
Problematic mobile phone use is associated with a number of negative outcomes, such as mental health problems, such as a variety of mental illnesses, including anxiety, physical health problems and problematic behaviours. Among students, cell phone use is associated with worse physical health and worse academic performance. More cell phone use exposes individuals to more negative consequences.
Nonetheless, Panova and Carbonell explain that "mobile phone addiction" is not really an addictive behavior and suggest that it be called "problematic mobile phone use", which reflects a desire for people to connect with other people.
Montag et al. proposed that "problematic mobile phone use" is essentially a type of Internet use disorder. Smartphones are a way of using the Internet, but they are not the problem itself.
The compensation theory of Internet use believes that when early adolescents face negative environmental conditions, they may experience negative feelings, including loneliness and fear of missing out, and thus reconnect with what others are doing, leading early adolescents to reduce negative feelings through excessive mobile phone use.
Family is an important environmental factor in the growth and development of early adolescents.
Parenting style plays a vital role in the growth and development of early adolescents. Problematic cell phone use is highly prevalent among early adolescents, and is also an important issue in parent-child conflict in the family. It has theoretical and practical significance to explore the impact of parental rearing styles on early adolescents' problematic cell phone use.
As a typical bad upbringing, parental psychological control has diffuse damage to children's psychological social adaptation, and may lead to a series of negative emotions such as loneliness, depression, and anxiety in early adolescents.
For children, parental psychological control will hinder the development of children's autonomy, and is more likely to produce social withdrawal tendencies, which will eventually lead to higher levels of loneliness, which will further lead to adverse development outcomes such as problematic mobile phone use. Currently, many studies believe that perceived social support is an important protective factor for a series of externalizing problems in early adolescents.
After realizing a high level of social support, early adolescents are more likely to discover strategies and methods to combat stressful events, thereby relieving stress and reducing the negative impact of negative events on individuals.
This may mediate the effect of parental psychological control on early adolescent loneliness, ultimately reducing the incidence of adverse outcomes such as problematic cell phone use.
To sum up, among the environmental factors that influence problematic mobile phone use in early adolescents, family is the environment with the longest contact time and the closest relationship with the individual. It is also the primary place for individual socialization. Therefore, family and parental upbringing factors are important factors that influence problematic mobile phone use in early adolescents.
At present, researchers have not yet formed a relatively unified view on the impact of parental psychological control on early adolescents' problematic mobile phone use, and there is a lack of strong intervention measures for early adolescents' problematic mobile phone use.
In order to solve the above problems, this study intends to first explore the impact of individual and environmental factors on early adolescents' mobile phone addiction from the perspectives of parental psychological control, early adolescent loneliness and perceived social support, in order to further supplement the research on problematic mobile phone use in early adolescents.
1. The relationship between parental psychological control and problematic mobile phone use in early adolescents
The results of this study show that parental psychological control has a significant positive impact on problematic mobile phone use among junior high school students. The higher the level of psychological control parents have over their children, the more serious their children's problematic cell phone use is.
Parental psychological control triggers children's feelings of guilt, shame, and anxiety to make children respect their parents' opinions. This method not only damages early adolescents' self-esteem and is not conducive to the development of autonomy, but may also have a negative impact on psychology and emotions, leading individuals to choose to use mobile phones to escape reality, relax, entertain, and interact with others.
Early adolescence is an important period for individuals to separate and individuate. Early adolescents gradually seek independence and hope to gain autonomy. Specifically, the main development task is to obtain behavioral, cognitive, and emotional autonomy, that is, to be able to act, think and feel independently.
Due to rapid physical and cognitive changes in early adolescents, individuals expand social relationships and gain more power and responsibility, which accelerates their process of gaining autonomy. However, when early adolescents perceive parental control as a threat to their autonomy, they will resist parental control.
's research on early adolescents found that smartphones are considered an important tool that can assist and/or develop early adolescents' autonomy. Early adolescent subjects believed that mobile phones gave them many opportunities to explore a variety of activities without relying on their parents, but at the same time they could stay in touch with their parents.
Smartphones can also promote independent thinking in early adolescents. Participants reported feeling more mature and independent after using mobile phones, and deepened their understanding of the world and society.
Early adolescents use mobile phones to search for information on the Internet, obtain information resources, and engage in mobile games or productive mobile applications to gain a sense of accomplishment, autonomy, and satisfaction. Middle school students use mobile phones for entertainment, seeking pleasure, and obtaining more external information. These needs make individuals more likely to become dependent on mobile phones.
Although early adolescents are eager to gain autonomy and explore the world through mobile phones, early adolescents are also more likely to be harmed by problematic mobile phone use because they also have low self-control problems while using mobile phones to explore novel things.
For junior high school students, mobile phones are also an emotion regulation strategy. When faced with relationship conflicts and the pressure of parental psychological control, early adolescents try to adjust their emotions and divert their attention by using mobile phones, such as watching videos, listening to music, and reading on their mobile phones.
The purpose of early adolescents who have problematic mobile phone use is to relieve stress or temporarily distract themselves by focusing on their mobile phones, so as to avoid conflicts, gain acceptance from peers, and avoid being ignored.
2. The mediating role of loneliness
Parents’ psychological control directly affects the problematic mobile phone use of junior high school students. At the same time, junior high school students’ loneliness plays a partial mediating role between parental psychological control and problematic mobile phone use. The higher the level of parental psychological control, the greater the loneliness among junior high school students, leading to more problematic mobile phone use.
When early adolescents are unable to obtain support and understanding from their parents and feel lonely in the parent-child relationship, the parent-child relationship indirectly affects problematic mobile phone use through loneliness, lack of motivation, and lack of relationship motivation.
Empirical research shows loneliness can lead to problematic mobile phone use. Loneliness is an important risk factor for problematic cell phone use when individuals perceive that their interpersonal network is smaller or that existing relationships are less satisfying than the relationships they desire.
In early adolescence, loneliness is a common emotional experience and a subjective experience of a state of worry, and lonely individuals experience poor interpersonal relationships. Junior high school students can use mobile phones to interact with each other and maintain relationships with peers.
Online social interaction is easier for individuals with strong interpersonal insecurities and insecure attachment patterns. Early adolescents use mobile phones to access social platforms or applications for more ideal personal impression management, and the functions of these mobile social applications can increase users' sense of control over their online social interactions.
To a certain extent, mobile phones are a way to participate in the external world.In their early years, teenagers use mobile phones and the Internet to establish their own social circles or maintain existing interpersonal relationships. They use mobile phones to gain some contact with others, which temporarily alleviates their loneliness.
However, this approach also increases the risk of developing problematic mobile phone use in early adolescents.
Problematic cell phone use develops as individuals develop habits of responding to cell phone messages or reminders. Individuals have automated checking behavior on their mobile phone information.
As time accumulates, individuals begin to check mobile phone information frequently and repeatedly. These behavioral habits prompt individuals to increase potentially problematic cell phone use.
The habit of checking your phone for messages is also a way of gaining social validation from friends or other relationship partners - a way of "seeking validation". Often low self-esteem, loneliness, depression, and anxiety drive individuals to seek validation.
Early adolescents who are under high parental psychological control find it difficult to seek affirmation from their parents. When their parents cannot provide support and acceptance, they will use their mobile phones to establish other interpersonal relationships through mobile games and social network platforms to gain affirmation from peer relationships.
3. The moderating effect of perceived social support
Research has confirmed that perceived social support is a moderating variable in the process of parental psychological control affecting problematic mobile phone use through the mediating effect of loneliness. The moderating effect of perceived social support occurs in the first half of the mediation effect. The specific manifestation of
is that compared with junior high school students who perceive a lower level of social support, the effect of parental psychological control on loneliness is weaker and the degree of problematic mobile phone use is lower for junior high school students who perceive a higher level of social support. That is, the higher the level of perceived social support, the weaker the effect of parental psychological control on problematic mobile phone use through loneliness.
If junior high school students perceive a lower level of social support, the impact of parental psychological control on loneliness will be stronger, and thus the impact on problematic mobile phone use will be stronger. This result indicates that perceived social support plays a protective role in this mediating process.
The buffer model and main effect model of social support both emphasize that social support has a positive impact on individuals. Many studies believe that perceived social support is an important protective factor.
Parental psychological control triggers children's feelings of guilt, shame, and anxiety to make children respect their parents' opinions. This method not only damages early adolescents' self-esteem and is not conducive to the development of autonomy, but may also have a negative impact on psychology and emotions, leading individuals to choose to use mobile phones to escape reality, relax, entertain, and interact with others.
Early adolescence is an important period for individuals to separate and individuate. Early adolescents gradually seek independence and hope to gain autonomy. Specifically, the main development task is to obtain behavioral, cognitive, and emotional autonomy, that is, to be able to act, think and feel independently.
Due to rapid physical and cognitive changes in early adolescents, individuals expand social relationships and gain more power and responsibility, which accelerates their process of gaining autonomy. However, when early adolescents perceive parental control as a threat to their autonomy, they will resist parental control.
's research on early adolescents found that smartphones are considered an important tool that can assist and/or develop early adolescents' autonomy. Early adolescent subjects believed that mobile phones gave them many opportunities to explore a variety of activities without relying on their parents, but at the same time they could stay in touch with their parents.
Smartphones can also promote independent thinking in early adolescents. Participants reported feeling more mature and independent after using mobile phones, and deepened their understanding of the world and society.
Early adolescents use mobile phones to search for information on the Internet, obtain information resources, and engage in mobile games or productive mobile applications to gain a sense of accomplishment, autonomy, and satisfaction. Middle school students use mobile phones for entertainment, seeking pleasure, and obtaining more external information. These needs make individuals more likely to become dependent on mobile phones.
Although early adolescents are eager to gain autonomy and explore the world through mobile phones, early adolescents are also more likely to be harmed by problematic mobile phone use because they also have low self-control problems while using mobile phones to explore novel things.
For junior high school students, mobile phones are also an emotion regulation strategy. When faced with relationship conflicts and the pressure of parental psychological control, early adolescents try to adjust their emotions and divert their attention by using mobile phones, such as watching videos, listening to music, and reading on their mobile phones.
The purpose of early adolescents who have problematic mobile phone use is to relieve stress or temporarily distract themselves by focusing on their mobile phones, so as to avoid conflicts, gain acceptance from peers, and avoid being ignored.
2. The mediating role of loneliness
Parents’ psychological control directly affects the problematic mobile phone use of junior high school students. At the same time, junior high school students’ loneliness plays a partial mediating role between parental psychological control and problematic mobile phone use. The higher the level of parental psychological control, the greater the loneliness among junior high school students, leading to more problematic mobile phone use.
When early adolescents are unable to obtain support and understanding from their parents and feel lonely in the parent-child relationship, the parent-child relationship indirectly affects problematic mobile phone use through loneliness, lack of motivation, and lack of relationship motivation.
Empirical research shows loneliness can lead to problematic mobile phone use. Loneliness is an important risk factor for problematic cell phone use when individuals perceive that their interpersonal network is smaller or that existing relationships are less satisfying than the relationships they desire.
In early adolescence, loneliness is a common emotional experience and a subjective experience of a state of worry, and lonely individuals experience poor interpersonal relationships. Junior high school students can use mobile phones to interact with each other and maintain relationships with peers.
Online social interaction is easier for individuals with strong interpersonal insecurities and insecure attachment patterns. Early adolescents use mobile phones to access social platforms or applications for more ideal personal impression management, and the functions of these mobile social applications can increase users' sense of control over their online social interactions.
To a certain extent, mobile phones are a way to participate in the external world.In their early years, teenagers use mobile phones and the Internet to establish their own social circles or maintain existing interpersonal relationships. They use mobile phones to gain some contact with others, which temporarily alleviates their loneliness.
However, this approach also increases the risk of developing problematic mobile phone use in early adolescents.
Problematic cell phone use develops as individuals develop habits of responding to cell phone messages or reminders. Individuals have automated checking behavior on their mobile phone information.
As time accumulates, individuals begin to check mobile phone information frequently and repeatedly. These behavioral habits prompt individuals to increase potentially problematic cell phone use.
The habit of checking your phone for messages is also a way of gaining social validation from friends or other relationship partners - a way of "seeking validation". Often low self-esteem, loneliness, depression, and anxiety drive individuals to seek validation.
Early adolescents who are under high parental psychological control find it difficult to seek affirmation from their parents. When their parents cannot provide support and acceptance, they will use their mobile phones to establish other interpersonal relationships through mobile games and social network platforms to gain affirmation from peer relationships.
3. The moderating effect of perceived social support
Research has confirmed that perceived social support is a moderating variable in the process of parental psychological control affecting problematic mobile phone use through the mediating effect of loneliness. The moderating effect of perceived social support occurs in the first half of the mediation effect. The specific manifestation of
is that compared with junior high school students who perceive a lower level of social support, the effect of parental psychological control on loneliness is weaker and the degree of problematic mobile phone use is lower for junior high school students who perceive a higher level of social support. That is, the higher the level of perceived social support, the weaker the effect of parental psychological control on problematic mobile phone use through loneliness.
If junior high school students perceive a lower level of social support, the impact of parental psychological control on loneliness will be stronger, and thus the impact on problematic mobile phone use will be stronger. This result indicates that perceived social support plays a protective role in this mediating process.
The buffer model and main effect model of social support both emphasize that social support has a positive impact on individuals. Many studies believe that perceived social support is an important protective factor.
