Parent-child communication and adolescent problematic internet use: A cross-sectional dyadic study of protective...

Adolescent problematic internet use (PIU) has been linked to family processes, including intergenerational patterns. Although parent-child communication is often considered protective, whether it buffers intergenerational risk or functions independently remains unclear.

In this cross-sectional dyadic study, 824 Japanese high school students (aged 15-20, M = 16.7, SD = 0.8) and their biological parents completed parallel online questionnaires assessing PIU and communication via a commercial research panel (Macromill). Hierarchical regressions examined direct, moderating, and discrepancy effects, controlling for parent demographics.

Parental PIU was positively associated with adolescent PIU (β = 0.53, p < .001). Higher mean-level communication-the average of parent and adolescent reports-was associated with lower adolescent PIU (parental acceptance: β = -0.08, p < .05; low perceived barriers to consultation: β = -0.13, p < .001), but did not moderate the parent-adolescent PIU association (both p > .20). Adolescents' own reports of low perceived barriers to consultation (β = -0.51) were far more strongly associated with adolescent PIU than parents' reports (β = 0.10, ns); response surface analysis indicated asymmetric informant weighting (a3 = 0.61, p < .001) rather than a non-linear discrepancy effect (a4 = -0.01, ns). Discrepancies in parental acceptance were unrelated to adolescent PIU. Findings were unchanged after controlling for parent sex and age.

Parent-child communication is an independent protective factor rather than a buffering mechanism. Adolescents' own perceptions of help-seeking barriers, more than discrepancies per se, were associated with risk, meriting attention in future research pending longitudinal, multi-method replication.