See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/373689193

Relationship between generalized problematic internet use, the quality of a parent-child relationship, and conflict over smartphone use in Croatian
adolescents

Poster · August 2023

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19285.40160

CITATIONS READS
0 141

6 authors, including:

Katarina Perić Pavišić Marina Merkaš

Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar Catholic University of Croatia
21 PUBLICATIONS 22 CITATIONS 53 PUBLICATIONS 741 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Ana Žulec Ivanković Matea Bodrozic Selak

Croatian Catholic University Croatian Catholic University
20 PUBLICATIONS 49 CITATIONS 14 PUBLICATIONS 14 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Katarina Perić Pavišić on 06 September 2023.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

View publication stats

Relationship between generalized problematic internet use, the quality

of a parent-child relationship, and conflict over smartphone use in
Croatian adolescents
Katarina Perić Pavišić**, Marina Merkaš*, Ana Žulec*, Matea Bodrožić Selak*, Vanesa Varga*,
Marina Kotrla Topić**
*Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia
**Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Zagreb, Croatia

METHOD
INTRODUCTION
Problematic use of the internet has become an increasingly common problem Sample and procedure
N = 280 children (58.8% girls) aged 10 to 14 (M=12.23; SD=1.21)
among children and adolescents, with various consequences for their
the first wave of a longitudinal study in the project "Digital technology
development in the social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral domains.
in the family: patterns of behavior and effects on child development"
The increasingly frequent use of the internet, as well as the problematic use of
(D.E.C.I.D.E.)
the internet by adolescents, represents a great challenge for parental control of
such behavior, which can often lead to conflicts related to the use of the Internet
Instruments
and digital technology devices (Matthes et al., 2021).
Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS2, Caplan,
It is known in the literature that factors related to the parent-child relationship
2010)
can be both risk and protective factors for the development of problematic
components: preference for online social interaction (POSI;
Internet use in adolescents. A poor quality of parent-child relationship involving n=3), mood regulation (n=3), cognitive preoccupation (n=3),
many conflicts has been shown to be a risk factor for the development of compulsive Internet use (n=3), negative outcomes (n=3)
problematic Internet use (Bonrel-Nissim & Sasson, 2018). On the other side, a 15 items, 7-point scale (1- “totally disagree”, 7 – “totally agree”)
positive quality of the parent-child relationship has been shown to be a the total score on the scale was used (n=15)
protective factor against problematic internet use (Özaslan et al., 2022).

AIM Parent-Adolescent Relationship Scale (Hair et al., 2005)

identification with a parent (n=3); 5-point scale (1- “totally
disagree”, 5 – “totally agree”)
The aim of this study was to examine the associations between perceived support from a parent (n=5); 5-point scale (1 –
generalized problematic internet use (GPIUS), parent-child relationship “never”, 5- “always”)
quality, and child-parent conflict over smartphone use among referred to the parent who participated in the research with the
adolescents in Croatia. child (mostly mothers)

Conflict over the Smartphone Use Scale (D.E.C.I.D.E., 2021)

RESULTS constructed for the purpose of the longitudinal study
example of an item: “I argue with my parents about how long I
generally use my smartphone.”
Table 1. Descriptive statistics and Cronbach alpha for the study variables
11 items, 5-point scale (1- “never”, 5- “always”)

The results show that the GPIUS was positively related

to conflict over smartphone use between adolescents
and parents (r=.349, p<.01) and negatively related to
identification with a parent (r=-.226, p<.01) and
Table 2. Correlations between problematic internet use, identification with a parent, perceived support from a parent (r=-.249, p<.01).
percieved support from a parent and conflict over the Smartphone use (Spearman’s rho)
These results point to a positive relationship between
higher generalized problematic internet use, heightened
conflicts between adolescents and parents about
smartphone use, and a poorer quality of parent-child
relationships.

LITERATURE
Boniel-Nissim, M. & Sasson, H. (2018). Bullying victimization and poor relationships with
parents as risk factors of problematic internet use in adolescence. Computers in Human
CONCLUSION Behavior, 88, 176-183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.05.041
Caplan, S. E. (2010). Theory and measurement of generalized problematic Internet use: A two-
step approach. Computers in human behavior, 26(5), 1089-1097.
These findings highlight the significance of the parent-child bond in children's https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.012
problematic internet use. Although peer relationships and a child's unique characteristics Hair, E. C., Moore, K. A., Garrett, S. B., Kinukawa, A., Lippman, L. H., & Michelson, E. (2005). The
parent-adolescent relationship scale. Adolescent & Family Health, 4(1), 12-25.
should be taken into consideration, as well as family factors, in various prevention and
Matthes, J., Thomas, M. F., Stevic, A., & Schmuck, D. (2021). Fighting over smartphones?
intervention strategies, it is equally important to inform and motivate parents to improve Parents' excessive smartphone use, lack of control over children's use, and conflict. Computers
the quality of their interactions with their children. in Human Behavior, 116, 106618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106618
Future studies in this area are much needed since the use of smartphones and the Özaslan, A., Yıldırım, M., Güney, E. et al. (2022). Association Between Problematic Internet Use,
Quality of Parent-Adolescents Relationship, Conflicts, and Mental Health
Internet is constantly rising among adolescents. Problems.International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 20, 2503–2519.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00529-8

This work has been supported by Croatian Science Foundation under the project
number UIP-2019-04-7547 “Digital technology in the family: patterns of decide@unicath.hr
behaviour and effects on the child development”