The Influence Of Parents’ Phubbing On Junior High School Students’ Problematic Internet Use

Teenagers’ problematic Internet use has become a psychological problem of general concern in contemporary society.Teenagers are alternating between maturity and naivete,independence and dependence,and they are experiencing a crisis of self-identity.Ecosystem theory points out that the family is the main microsystem,the behavior and activities of its members will have a direct impact on the individual.As a negative but common phenomenon in the family,parental phubbing is bound to have a negative effect on the mental health growth of adolescents.Studies have pointed out that teenagers are easy to rely on the Internet,leading to problematic Internet use,and the emergence of moral weakening,apathy,anxiety,depression,aggressive behavior and other externalized problems.Previous studies have shown that parental factors can significantly predict problematic Internet use as well as the quality of parent-child communication and the level of basic psychological needs satisfaction,while parent-child communication and basic psychological needs satisfaction can negatively predict individual’s problematic Internet use.However,the existing research has not discussed the interaction mechanism between these four factors.In order to provide theoretical support and educational suggestions for the prevention and alleviation of problematic Internet use in junior middle school students,this study aims to explore the internal relationships among parental phubbing,parent-child communication,basic psychological needs satisfaction and problematic Internet use.In this study,582 students from 2 ordinary middle schools in Shanxi Province were surveyed by using the Parental Phubbing Scale revised by Ding Qian et al.,the Problematic Internet Use Scale developed by Lei Li et al.,the Parent-Child Communication Scale revised by Wang Shuqing et al.,and the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfication Scale revised by Yu Chengfu et al,Statistical results show that:(1)The results of difference test show that the scores of problematic Internet use of Grade 2 students are significantly higher than those of the other two grades;Male students score significantly higher than female students in problematic Internet use..(2)Correlation analysis results show that parental phubbing was significantly negatively correlated with problematic Internet use and with parent-child communication and basic psychological need satisfaction.Parent-child communication,basic psychological need satisfaction and problematic Internet use were negatively correlated.Parent-child communication was positively correlated with the satisfaction of basic psychological needs.(3)The mediating effect test showed that parental phubbing could significantly predict problematic Internet use.Parent-child communication played a significant mediating effect between parental phubbing and problematic Internet use.The satisfaction of basic psychological needs played a significant mediating effect between parental phubbing and problematic Internet use.Social anxiety and interpersonal alienation have significant chain mediating effects.This study suggests that it is necessary to Focusing on the problematic Internet use of boys and junior high school students;To improve parents’ mental health and play a role model.Strengthen parents’ mental health education and play an example role;improve the quality of parent-child communication;to improve the basic psychological needs of junior high school students to meet the level,and finally to alleviate the effect of problematic Internet use.