Parental Factors Associated with Social Media Use in Adolescence: A Systematic Review

Contemporary parenting involves technology-related challenges such as establishing guidelines for how 10-19-year-old adolescents use social media. Previous research has shown inconsistent findings on strategies that parents adopt in helping their adolescents navigate the use of social media. It is unclear how parenting practices contribute to shaping adolescents' digital literacy. Thus, the current review aimed to explore the relationship between parental factors and adolescent social media use.

We conducted systematic literature searches in four online databases: Scopus, PubMed, PsycINFO, and ERIC. Based on predefined eligibility, the search yielded 27 studies (19 cross-sectional) mainly conducted in Europe, the United States, and Asia Pacific involving 26,337 adolescents.

Four aspects of parenting practices (parent modelling, mediation/communication, monitoring, and limit-setting) were identified that were linked with adolescent engagement with social media. Adolescents mirror their parents' social media habits, including time spent online and specific behaviours like privacy settings. Specifically, parental mediation positively correlated with adolescent social media engagement while parental monitoring showed mixed results on adolescent social media use. Additionally, proactive limit-setting strategies appeared to mitigate problematic social media use, while reactive approaches were associated with increased social media use.

This review demonstrates the multifaceted role of parental practices, particularly modelling and mediation/communication, in shaping adolescent social media use behaviours. It also highlights the need for further research to delineate the nuanced effects of monitoring and limit-setting, emphasising the importance of considering individual adolescent needs and family dynamics in the development of effective intervention strategies.