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Parental Internet-Specific Rules and the Onset of Adolescents' Problematic Social Media Use: Prospective Study
Suzanne Geurts1, Ina Koning2, Regina Van den Eijnden1
1Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, Utrecht, 3584CH, The Netherlands, 31 623807447.
Journal of Medical Internet Research
|September 18, 2025
Summary
Parental rules on internet use can prevent problematic social media use in younger adolescents. However, strict rules may increase risks for older teens, highlighting the need for age-specific strategies.
Area of Science:
- Adolescent Psychology
- Digital Media Studies
- Parenting Research
Background:
- Parental concern over adolescent social media use is high.
- Restrictive mediation strategies are often employed by parents.
- The effectiveness of these parental rules for social media use is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine when and for whom parental rules on internet use prevent problematic social media use.
- To investigate the relationship between specific internet rules and the onset of at-risk social media use.
- To examine the moderating roles of age, gender, and parenting factors in this relationship.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study using four waves of survey data from 315 adolescents and their parents.
- Data collected between April 2020 and January 2022 with 6-month intervals.
- Analysis focused on internet-specific rules and the onset of problematic social media use, with moderation analyses.
Main Results:
- No overall significant effect of internet rules on problematic social media use.
- A significant interaction effect was found with adolescent age: rules were protective for younger adolescents (<12.31 years) but detrimental for older adolescents (>15.70 years).
- No significant moderation effects were found for gender, adolescent involvement in rule-setting, positive parenting, parental phubbing, or coparenting quality.
Conclusions:
- Internet-specific rules are effective in preventing problematic social media use in pre- and early adolescence.
- For adolescents aged 15.7 years and older, strict internet rules may be counterproductive.
- Age-appropriate parental mediation strategies are crucial for addressing problematic social media use.
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