The Influence Of Adolescents' Internet Usage On Parent Adolescent Relationship Quality And Its Restraining Factors

As a new media,the Internet makes a deep impression on the society interaction and social relations.At present,when we talk about the influence of the Internet on the parent-adolescent relationship,some researchers think that the Internet usage and the parent-adolescent relationship have positive correlation,some think that they have negative correlation,some think there is no correlation.The phenomenon of unconformity hints that there may be complicated relations between the Internet usage and the parent-adolescent relationship,on the other hand,this phenomenon might be only because these researches pay more attention to the influence on the parent-adolescent relationship based on the Internet access-gap other than the Internet usage-gap.And what is more important is that the unconformity may be ascribable to this reason:some researchers just investigated the direct linear correlations of variables,but didn't investigate those mediators and moderators that also impact the relationship.Thus,it is still highly necessary to discuss the influence of Internet usage on the parent-adolescent relationship deeply.Moreover,until now,little research on the interaction between the Internet usage and parent-adolescent relationship quality is found in China.This status is embarrassing for having not echoed the increasing spread of the Internet technology within our urban families.On the basis of the existing research,we select the frequency,mode and skill-degree of the Internet usage as independent variables,further more,divide the dependent variable,parent-adolescent relationship quality,into 4 dimensions:parent-adolescent cohesion degree,parent-adolescent conflict degree,parent-adolescent trust degree and parent-adolescent satisfaction degree.To investigate the effect of the adolescents' Internet usage on the parent-adolescent relationship quality,we investigate 475 urban middle students and one of their parents in Changsha,firstly describe the characteristics of the Internet usage and current situation of parent-adolescent relationship among these adolescents;then,analyze the direct effect of the characteristics of the Internet usage on the parent-adolescent relationship quality;and at last,within the family boundaries approach and the socio-technical model,we test the mediating effect of family time and some moderating effects,include:the Internet characteristics(e.g.ease of use and usefulness),these adolescents' personalities(e.g.self-esteem)and family characteristics(e.g.how do the parents use the Internet and interfere with their children's Internet use).The finding indicates:1.Through controlling these adolescents' individual characteristics and family background variables,we can see that the Internet usage has varying degrees of influence on the parent-adolescent relationship quality,but the diversity is not great.The Internet usage influence parent-adolescent cohesion degree most intensively,affect parent-adolescent conflict degree lesser,and has almost little effect on parent-adolescent trust degree and parent-adolescent satisfaction degree.Specifically,1.1 About the frequency of the Internet usage,The longer the adolescents surf the Internet during the winter and summer vacation,the lower parent-adolescent cohesion degree they experience.Compared with the net-age(less than 2 years),the more parent-adolescent cohesion degree the adolescents experience when their net-age is 4-6 years.Compared with non-users,the higher parent-adolescent conflict degree the adolescents experience when they use 2-3 hours daily at home during the school term.Compared with less than an hour,the lower parent-adolescent conflict degree the adolescents experience when they spend 2-3 hours on the Internet on weekends.The higher dependence on the Internet at home,the more conflict they experience.Compared with non-users,the lower parent-adolescent trust degree the users experience.Compared with less than an hour,the higher parent-adolescent trust degree the adolescents experience when they spend 2-3 hours on the Internet on weekends.Compared with the net-age(less than 2 years),the lower parent-adolescent trust degree the adolescents experience when their net-age is 2-4 years and above 6 years.The higher dependence on the Internet at home,the lower parent-adolescent satisfaction degree they experience.1.2 About the mode of the Internet usage,The more the adolescents use study-information usage of the Internet,the more intimate,more trusted and more satisfied parent-adolescent relationship quality they experience.The more the adolescents use tool-entertainment usage of the Internet,the higher parent-adolescent conflict degree they experience.The more the adolescents use interactive-transaction usage of the Internet,the higher parent-adolescent conflict degree they experience.1.3 About the skill-degree of the Internet usage.The skill-degree of the Internet usage influence parent-adolescent cohesion degree remarkably.1.4 Of all the impact arguments,the study-information usage of the Internet has the greatest influence on the parent-adolescent cohesion degree,trust degree and satisfaction degree;The frequency of the Internet usage has the greatest influence on the parent-adolescent conflict degree.2.The characteristics of the Internet usage partially influence the parent-adolescent relationship quality through family time.Concretely,(1)Family time has mediating effects between the frequency,mode and skill-degree of the Internet usage and parent-adolescent cohesion degree partially.(2)Family time has mediating effect between the frequency of the Internet usage and parent-adolescent conflict degree partially.(3)Family time has no mediating effect between the Internet usage and parent-adolescent trust degree.(4)Family time has mediating effects between the frequency,mode of the Internet usage and parent-adolescent satisfaction degree partially.3.The Internet characteristics,adolescents' personalities and family characteristics have moderating effects between the characteristics of the Internet usage and the parent-adolescent relationship quality.3.1 Considering the Internet characteristics,(1)The ease of use moderates the effects of the frequency,mode and skill-degree of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent conflict degree,but doesn't moderate the effects of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent cohesion degree,parent-adolescent trust degree and parent-adolescent satisfaction degree.(2)The usefulness plays the same role as the ease of use does.3.2 Considering the adolescents' personalities,(1)The self-esteem has a positive moderating effect of the skill-degree of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent cohesion and satisfaction degree noticeably.(2)The self-esteem positively moderates the effects of the adolescents' online time(2-3 hours)during the weekend on parent-adolescent conflict degree noticeably when compared with the adolescents' online time(within 1 hour)during the weekend.(3)The self-esteem doesn't moderate the effects of Internet usage on parent adolescent trust degree and parent-adolescent satisfaction degree noticeably.3.3Considering parents' interventions(1)Positive-parenting has significant positive impact on parent-adolescent satisfaction degree directly,and it moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent trust degree.(2)Network interactive method has significant positive impact on parent-adolescent satisfaction degree directly,and it moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent trust degree,(3)Goal orientation method moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent adolescent conflict degree,moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent adolescent satisfaction degree.(4)Reverse parenting has significant positive impact on parent adolescent trust degree directly,and it moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent trust degree.(5)Rules-based method moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent trust degree,moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent satisfaction degree.3.4 Considering father/mother's using the Internet,(1)The parents' internet dependency moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent cohesion degree.(2)The parents' instrumental usage of the Internet moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent satisfaction degree.(3)The parents' ritualized usage of the Internet has significant negative impact on parent-adolescent trust degree directly.(4)The parents' skill-degree of the Internet usage has significant negative impact on parent adolescent conflict degree directly,and it moderates the effects of the Internet usage on parent-adolescent satisfaction degree.At last,based on the above conclusions,we try our best to have a brief discussion and give some shallow advices on how to construct harmonious parent-adolescent relationship in the Internet era and future research directions.