Problematic Internet use and academic engagement during the COVID-19 lockdown: The indirect effects of depression, anxiety, and insomnia in early, middle, and late adolescence.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition of online learning introduces challenges for adolescents to engage in learning. The increased access and persistent Internet use could heighten the risk of problematic Internet use (PIU) that has been increasingly recognized as a risk factor for academic engagement. This study aims to investigate the direct and indirect relationships between PIU and academic engagement through psychopathological symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, insomnia) in early, middle, and late adolescence. METHODS: In all, 4852 adolescents (51.5% females; Mage = 13.80 ± 2.38) from different regions of Chinese mainland participated in the study and completed questionnaires. RESULTS: Depression and then insomnia as well as anxiety and then insomnia mediated the relationship between PIU and academic engagement. Anxiety exhibited a double-edged effect, that is, a positive relation with academic engagement directly and a negative relation with academic engagement indirectly through insomnia. Multigroup analyses showed that the indirect effects of PIU on academic engagement through depression and subsequent insomnia in middle and late adolescence were stronger than that in early adolescence, whereas the direct effect in early adolescence was stronger than that in middle adolescence. LIMITATION: This study was cross-sectional in design and relied upon self-report measures. CONCLUSION: These findings improve the understandings of how PIU relates to academic engagement through psychopathological symptoms and highlight developmental differences of adolescence.

Adolescent problematic Internet use and parental involvement: The chain mediating effects of parenting stress and parental expectations across early, middle, and late adolescence.

Problematic Internet use (PIU), a common phenomenon, has negative effects on adolescents, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents with PIU pose great challenges to parenting. However, little is known about the mediating mechanisms underlying this relationship. The study examines the chain mediating roles of parenting stress and parental expectations between PIU and parental involvement across early, middle, and late adolescence. Families (N = 1206) that included fathers, mothers, and adolescents (48.9% females, Mage  = 13.86 ± 2.48) participated in the study. Adolescents provided a rating of PIU, and fathers and mothers reported their own parenting stress, parental expectations, and parental involvement. The results showed that paternal parenting stress and then expectations mediated the association between PIU and paternal involvement, and maternal parenting stress and then expectations mediated the association between PIU and maternal involvement, indicating a spillover effect. By contrast, the crossover effect was established only in that maternal parenting stress was negatively related to paternal expectations in middle adolescents. Moreover, maternal expectations showed the strongest association with maternal involvement in middle adolescents, whereas paternal expectations were most associated with paternal involvement in late adolescents. These findings underline the necessity of understanding parenting by assessing adolescent developmental stages and paternal and maternal parenting separately. Furthermore, the mediators of parenting stress and parental expectations can be the focus on facilitating parental involvement; the effect of maternal parenting stress on paternal expectations may suggest that intervention programs for fathers should consider more contextual factors.

Actor-partner association of work-family conflict and parental depressive symptoms during COVID-19 in China: Does coparenting matter?

Parental depressive symptoms and their related factors have not been widely examined during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the current study examined the actor and partner associations of work-family conflict and parental depressive symptoms. Considering the new demands and challenges for families during the COVID-19 pandemic, we further explored the moderation effect of coparenting. A cross-sectional online survey with 985 paired fathers and mothers was conducted in Mainland China. In 11.6% of families, only mothers reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms; in 10.6% families, only fathers reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms; in 9.5% families, the mother and father reported mild to moderate depressive symptoms. Results of the actor-partner interdependence model showed that parental family-to-work conflict was negatively associated with their own depressive symptoms. The negative actor association of maternal family-to-work conflict and depressive symptoms was moderated by undermining coparenting. The partner effects of maternal family-to-work and work-to-family conflicts on paternal depressive symptoms were moderated by undermining coparenting. Moreover, supportive coparenting moderated the actor association of work-to-family conflict and the depressive symptoms of fathers. Results highlight the importance of family-to-work conflict and family function for parental depressive symptoms. These findings can help promote parental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.