Investigating the Longitudinal Relationships Between Active Parental and Peer Mediation and Adolescents’ Social Media Literacy on the Positivity Bias

Abstract

Adolescents are assumed to develop social media literacy (SML) through interacting with different agents, such as parents and peers. However, research exploring this assumption is lacking. The current two-wave panel study (N = 1,007) partly addressed this gap by exploring the interrelationships between perceived active parental/peer mediation and adolescents’ SML (i.e. a cognitive and an affective dimension). These links were examined within the context of the social media positivity bias. Active parental mediation at Time 1 (T1) related to one aspect of cognitive SML, awareness of the presence of the positivity bias, and affective SML at Time 2 (T2). Active peer mediation at T1 did not relate to SML on the positivity bias at T2. Awareness of the presence of the positivity bias at T1 was associated with active parental mediation at T2. No age differences were found. Results suggest that parents play a role in adolescents’ SML on the positivity bias.