A local study of parent and adolescent technoference and adolescent well-being : the role of emotional avoidance and parent-adolescent relationship

Abstract

Technoference has been defined as the everyday intrusions and interruptions in social interactions due to technology devices. Previous research has examined technoference in parent-child relationship, but only little research has been looking into the impacts of technoference in the parent-adolescent context. Past research showed that parent-child technoference is related to increased negative behavioral outcomes of child, while parent-adolescent technoference is related to increased anxiety, depression, cyberbullying, and decreased prosocial behaviors, and was partly mediated by perceived parental warmth. The current study examined the effect of adolescents' perception of their own technoference and that of their parents on their well-being in the local context of Hong Kong. 208 participants age from 18 to 22 years old recruited from University completed an online questionnaire. Results showed that parent-adolescent relationship and adolescents' emotional avoidance were the serial mediators between the association of adolescent technoference and adolescents' psychological well-being, as well as between parent-adolescent technoference and adolescents' attachment style with their friends, yet results were only significant on anxious/ambivalent attachment style but not secure attachment style. Also, the association between parent technoference and adolescents' psychological well-being was mediated by parent-adolescent relationship alone but not related to adolescents' emotional avoidance. Implications of technoference in parent-adolescent context were discussed.