Social media addiction among Hong Kong adolescents before and after the pandemic: The effects of parenting behaviors

The increased social media usage during the COVID-19 pandemic raised the concern about social media addiction (SMA), especially among adolescents. The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of adolescents' SMA in Hong Kong before and during the pandemic, to examine the effects of general parenting behaviors and Internet-specific parenting practices by fathers and mothers respectively on adolescents' SMA, and to analyze the moderating roles of general parenting behaviors in the relationship between Internet-specific parental practices and adolescents' SMA. This study employed a two-wave longitudinal design. A total of 878 secondary school students (53.9% were girls, age = 13.19 ± 0.52 years at wave 1) in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire-based survey in 2019 and 2020. Paired-samples proportions tests revealed that there was no significant change in the prevalence of adolescents' SMA between the pre-pandemic (10.7%) and post-pandemic (9.7%) periods. Multiple regression analyses indicated that paternal responsiveness was negatively and maternal responsiveness was positively associated with adolescents' SMA. Surprisingly, both paternal and maternal reactive restrictive mediations were positively associated with adolescents' SMA. Interaction analyses showed that paternal responsiveness moderates the effects of paternal co-use on adolescents' SMA, and maternal demandingness moderates the effects of maternal rule-setting on adolescents’ SMA. The findings called for more comprehensive theoretical models that consider the interplay between general parenting behaviors and Internet-specific parenting, and highlighted the need for tailored interventions for fathers and mothers, respectively. Moreover, the counterproductive effect of reactive restrictive mediation deserves attention from researchers, social workers, and parents.