Problematic use of WhatsApp and adolescents: What educational role do parents play?

Abstract

The goal of this study is to understand the relationship between the problematic use of WhatsApp among young adolescents and parental mediation. The rise of mobile phone use among young people is a cause for concern, especially among parents themselves. The literature suggests that parents have a certain amount of room for maneuver through different parental strategies (parental mediation) to maximize the benefits of technology and reduce its possible risks, although this has not been sufficiently analyzed in the case of problematic use of the mobile phone and its applications. This study therefore examined three different parental mediation strategies (restrictive, modeling and stimulation) and their possible impact on the problematic use of WhatsApp. The sample comprised 1,144 13- and 14-year-old students during three academic years (2015-2018) in 17 schools in 7 Spanish provinces. One of the novelties of the study was the use of adolescent voices to understand the parental mediation of their parents. The results showed a direct relationship between the level of restrictive mediation and a problematic use of WhatsApp. In addition, the number of mobile phones that students have enjoyed, as well as whether parents use their mobile phone during dinner, also has a positive relationship with the problematic use of WhatsApp. These results are useful for understanding a responsible use of the mobile phone, as well as to guide parents about the problematic use of WhatsApp among adolescents.