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Parental monitoring of adolescent social media use: relations with adolescent mental health and self-perception

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Abstract

Parental monitoring of adolescent social media activity was investigated in relation to adolescent mental health and self-perception. Monitoring was assessed from the perspective of parents and adolescents. Participants were 316 parent-adolescent dyads with adolescents ranging in age from 14 to 17 years. Factor analysis supported a 3-factor model of parent-reported parental monitoring with 2 factors (i.e., Control, Open Communication) showing adequate reliability. Adolescent-reported parental monitoring fell along 3 dimensions (i.e., Control, Open Communication, Following). Open Communication was associated with lower adolescent-reported loneliness, whereas parent-reported Control strategies were related to higher adolescent narcissism. Further, parental monitoring did not moderate the relation between adolescent social media use and mental health or self-perception. The results point to the potential benefits of open communication surrounding adolescent social media use, but further work is needed on the developmental role of parental monitoring in the association between social media use and adjustment.

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The data from this study are available from the first author upon request. In addition, the data are available online on the Open Science Framework (OSF) platform.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Washington State University, PO Box 644820, 99164-4820, Pullman, WA, USA

    Christopher T. Barry & Hyunah Kim

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Barry, C.T., Kim, H. Parental monitoring of adolescent social media use: relations with adolescent mental health and self-perception. Curr Psychol 43, 2473–2485 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04434-2

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