Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 23, 2025
07:56
Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
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Social media, parenting, and well-being
Ine Beyens1, Loes Keijsers2, Sarah M Coyne3
1Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Current Opinion in Psychology
|May 13, 2022
Summary
Parents can guide adolescents
Area of Science:
- Psychology, Media Studies, Adolescent Development
Background:
- Adolescents' pervasive social media use presents challenges for parents regarding well-being and ill-being.
- Media-specific parenting (restricting, regulating, discussing social media use) is a key parental strategy.
- Existing research suggests media-specific parenting may mitigate negative social media effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the moderating role of media-specific parenting on social media's impact on adolescent well-being and ill-being.
- To clarify the direction of effects between social media use, media-specific parenting, and adolescent mental health outcomes.
- To provide evidence-based insights for parents managing adolescents' digital lives.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study design to track changes over time.
- Surveys assessing adolescents' social media use, well-being (life satisfaction), and ill-being (depressive symptoms).
- Parental questionnaires measuring media-specific parenting strategies.
Main Results:
- Media-specific parenting demonstrated a significant moderating effect, buffering negative impacts of social media.
- Specific parental actions, like discussing social media, were linked to improved adolescent well-being.
- Evidence suggests parental mediation can reduce depressive symptoms linked to social media and cyberbullying.
Conclusions:
- Media-specific parenting is a crucial protective factor for adolescents navigating social media.
- Parents can actively shape the influence of social media on their children's mental health.
- Further research should explore nuanced parental strategies and diverse adolescent populations.
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