Internet addiction is a relatively new and rapidly growing phenomenon that has been increasingly discussed within the clinical and developmental field, especially among adolescents (Kuss et al., 2014). Previous studies have emphasized the direct role of effective parental monitoring in reducing youth's internet addiction (Lin, Lin & Wu, 2009). However, there is also evidence suggesting that adolescents' self-regulatory mechanisms (i.e. effortful control) may mitigate the potential negative association between parental
monitoring and internet addiction (Ding et al., 2017). Despite these findings, to our knowledge, there are no previous studies that have investigated whether and how parental monitoring predict the initial level and rate of change in adolescents' internet addiction across Italian families.
Based on the above-mentioned theoretical premises, the general aim of this study is to examine whether and how parental monitoring predicts the initial level and rate of change in adolescents¿ internet addiction through the moderating role of adolescent's effortful control. More specific, the proposed study aims (1) to investigate the association between parental monitoring (i.e. child disclosure,
parental solicitation, and parental control) and internet addiction in Italian adolescents; (2) to analyze the moderating role of adolescents' effortful control (i.e. activational, attention and inhibitory control) in the relationship between parental monitoring and adolescents' internet addiction; and (3) to explore whether and how parental monitoring will predict the rate of change in young adults' internet addiction through the moderating role of effortful control at two time points (T1; Youth's age = 18; T2; Youths' age =19 - 20). As regards the expected results, we hypothesize that greater parental monitoring, as a positive parenting characteristic, will predict a faster drop in young adults¿ IA.
Findings from the present study may be useful for the following reasons:
- To extend the current knowledge about the role of effortful control in the relation between parental monitoring and internet addiction. Although previous studies have increasingly focused on the contribution of parental monitoring on the development of young adults¿ internet addiction (Lin et al., 2009), only few studies have investigated the moderating role of effortful control in this relation (Li et al., 2016). The present study could provide further empirical support to this body of research by demonstrating that effortful control may function as a protective factor for young adults¿ internet addiction, especially when youths are involved in familiar contexts characterized by low parental monitoring. In addition, the proposed study would increase the knowledge about the role of parental monitoring and internet addiction development in the Italian context, which has been scarcely examined (Mascheroni, 2014).
- Most of previous studies that examined the relationship between parental monitoring and internet addiction in adolescence did not use multiple informants in order to assess the development of internet addiction but used self-reported scales for measuring study variables (e.g., Zhang et al., 2014). As highlighted by Ding and colleagues (2017), this aspect represents an important limitation of previous research, because using a single informant report use increases the correlation between systematic error components and do not provide the opportunity to analyze the impact of error sources (e.g., Van Bruggen, Lilien & Kacker, 2002). The proposed study avoids common method bias and strengthens validity and reliability of results by using multiple informants (mothers, fathers and young adults¿ reports). This gives us the possibility to consider both paternal and maternal monitoring when accounting for young adults¿ internet addiction.
- To enhance our understanding of the directional and the longitudinal relations between parental monitoring and young adults¿ internet addiction. In fact, most of previous studies on young adults¿ internet addiction were cross-sectional and the correlational nature of the data precluded ascertaining direction of effects (e.g., Li et al., 2010). Thus, in order to capture the predicting effects of parental monitoring on young adults¿ internet addiction, the present study examines whether and how parental monitoring predict the rate of change in young adults¿ internet addiction at two time points (T1; Youth¿s age = 18; T2; Youths¿ age =19 ¿ 20).