Digital Distraction or Stimulated Self-Disclosure: Preadolescents’ Mobile Device Use in the Family Context
Dublin Core
Title
Digital Distraction or Stimulated Self-Disclosure: Preadolescents’ Mobile Device Use in the Family Context
Subject
Mobile Device Use, Preadolescents, Displacement, Self-Disclosure, Family Communication
Description
This study explored the social repercussions of preadolescents’ mobile device use within the
family context by testing two opposing predictions regarding the impact of technology on the quality of interpersonal relationships. Specifically, we examined whether smartphone and tablet use was positively related to preadolescents’ self-disclosure to their parents and/or displaced family time, which we hypothesized to be related to children’s satisfaction with family life. Results of a cross-sectional survey (n ¼ 698, 49.6% girls, Mage¼ 10.9, SD ¼ 0.69) provided support for both hypotheses, thus corroborating the presence of at least two diverging pathways that underlie this relationship. Although mobile device use seemed to foster a context that supported children’s self-disclosure to their parents, results also indicated a negative and indirect association through children’s perceived family time. This negative pathway, however, did not
hold when social use among children and parents (e.g., playing games together online) was considered separately.
family context by testing two opposing predictions regarding the impact of technology on the quality of interpersonal relationships. Specifically, we examined whether smartphone and tablet use was positively related to preadolescents’ self-disclosure to their parents and/or displaced family time, which we hypothesized to be related to children’s satisfaction with family life. Results of a cross-sectional survey (n ¼ 698, 49.6% girls, Mage¼ 10.9, SD ¼ 0.69) provided support for both hypotheses, thus corroborating the presence of at least two diverging pathways that underlie this relationship. Although mobile device use seemed to foster a context that supported children’s self-disclosure to their parents, results also indicated a negative and indirect association through children’s perceived family time. This negative pathway, however, did not
hold when social use among children and parents (e.g., playing games together online) was considered separately.
Creator
Anneleen Meeus, Steven Eggermont, and Kathleen Beullens
Source
https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/25/5/328/5896269
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Date
25 February 2020
Format
PDF
Language
English
Type
Text
Coverage
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 25 (2020)
Files
Collection
Citation
Anneleen Meeus, Steven Eggermont, and Kathleen Beullens, “Digital Distraction or Stimulated Self-Disclosure: Preadolescents’ Mobile Device Use in the Family Context,” Repository Horizon University Indonesia, accessed October 31, 2025, https://repository.horizon.ac.id/items/show/8667.