Parental Styles and the risk on use of the social networks in adolescent and young adults: Mediational role of the personality

Abstract

According to Baumrind, relationship between parents-children dyad is the base for learning skills and social interactions. A parental style based on assertiveness and responsiveness, assumes a significant and protective role regarding the dangers of social media when used by adolescents and young adults. We intend to analyze the effect of parental styles and the personality on the use of social media by adolescents and young adults, and test the mediational role of personality, in a sample of 936 individuals 14 to 20 aged. The results showed that the problematic use of social media was negatively predicted by the democratic parental style and positively predicted by the authoritarian and permissive style. Data also suggests a negative mediating effect between the emotionally adjusted personality in the democratic parental style and the problematic use of social media, and a positive mediating effect between negative parenting styles and the problematic use of social media.