Parents' Psychopathology Promotes the Adoption of Ineffective Pornography-Related Parenting Mediation Strategies

How Does Parents' Psychopathology Associate with Parent-Adolescent Communication Related and Unrelated to Sex?

Research has highlighted parent-adolescent communication as a potential protective factor associated with a decreased likelihood of adolescents engaging in risky behavior. In the present study, the link between parents' psychopathology and parent-adolescent communication quality (related and unrelated to sex) was examined, while taking into consideration the mediating effects of family-cohesion, family-adaptability, and perceived family-support. A sample of 275 Israeli parent-adolescent dyads - mother (Mage = 45.48, SD = 5.45); father (Mage = 48.06, SD = 7.30); and adolescent (Mage = 16.23, SD = 1.18) - completed a set of questionnaires, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the responses. The findings revealed that higher maternal-psychopathology was linked to lower family-cohesion, which in turn was linked to lower perceived family-support and to lower parent-adolescent communication (related and unrelated to sex). Higher paternal-psychopathology was linked to lower family-adaptability, which in turn was linked to lower parent-adolescent communication (unrelated to sex). The findings of this study highlight the need to consider both family functioning and perceived family support in order to understand the influence of parents' psychopathology on parent-adolescent communication quality.

Effective parental strategies against problematic smartphone use among adolescents: A 6-month prospective study

Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU) among adolescents is growing problem worldwide and multiple studies investigated its associated parental risk and protective factors. The available studies, however, typically do not address the multidimensional nature of PSU. They also rely heavily on cross-sectional designs with a small number of potentially contributing variables. This 6-month prospective study examines the relationships between a large range of parental factors with the three known dimensions of PSU: social environment pressure, emotional gain, and addiction-like behaviors. Specifically the study examines whether, and to what extent, the various dimensions of current and future PSU are related to parental support giving, general quality of communication, specific communication about smartphone use, and the four common mediation strategies. The sample comprised 1187 triads of mothers, fathers, and adolescents. The data-analysis pipeline consisted of three consecutive phases: (1) analyses of parental factors at baseline, (2) analyses of parental factors change over 6-months, and (3) interaction analyses between parental factors and the time-period of the study. The pipeline elicited three factors that moderated the change in PSU over time: Communication about smartphones with mothers, parental support giving, and parental co-use. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the existing literature and the familial, microsystem theoretical framework. Altogether, this prospective study scrutinized key parental factors and strategies that could be utilized by parents for coping with one of the most difficult parenting challenges of the digital era. Further research may build upon these findings to develop designated interventions to reduce PSU.

Parental practices as predictors of adolescents' compulsive sexual behavior: a 6-month prospective study

Compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) is a prevalent disorder among adolescents. To date, most studies focused on the self-report assessment of individuals without assessing possible parental practices that might alleviate or exacerbate adolescents' CSB. In the present research, I adopted the family systematic approach, which considers the effects of family context on children's and adolescents' development and examined whether and how parental (fathers' and mothers') support giving, communication, and restrictive mediation relate to children's current and future severity of CSB. The sample comprised 300 Israeli families [triad of mothers, fathers, and one adolescent (39% boys, 61% girls; age 14-18)]. Results indicate that maternal support and paternal quality of communication with children significantly predicted lower severity of current and future CSB, respectively. These findings highlight an important and understudied topic in the hope of motivating additional researchers and practitioners to adopt a familial, microsystem perspective on healthy sexual development-a perspective that holds great promise in promoting normal sexual development and in decreasing risky sexual behaviors.

Mothers' Perceptions of Children's Screen Use During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Israel

The contemporary parenting challenge of regulating children's screen time became even more difficult during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The current research addresses the characteristics of this challenge and explores mothers' perceptions regarding their children's screen use, through two consecutive studies. Study 1 included 299 mothers of elementary school children, who were asked to complete questionnaires regarding their children's screen habits. Mothers were also asked about their own attitudes towards screens, as parents, and about their personal feelings of frustration and guilt. Study 2 replicated this procedure among a new sample of 283 mothers who also completed validated scales assessing their sense of parental competence and authority style. Retrospective reports of mothers indicated that, during the lockdown, entertainment use of screens increased by 73% among 4^th-6^th graders and by 108% among 1^st-3^rd graders. Educational use increased by 86% in both age groups. Mothers' guilt increased as well and was predicted by children's entertainment use (but not educational use), after accounting for demographic variables and mothers' attitudes. Other factors, such as parenting style and having at-least one child with a diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), were associated with entertainment use (regardless of the COVID-19 lockdown). Factors that were found to moderate the lockdown effect were mothers' attitudes towards screens and parental confidence. The findings are discussed in the context of parents' efforts to regulate their children's screen use.