Parental vigilance, low self-control, and Internet dependency among rural adolescents

It is well established that parental supervision reduces the chance of adolescent problem behaviors. As the Internet has become a near-constant part of daily life, for communication, for leisure, or for education, it has led to new concerns about healthy adolescent development. Based on previous research and theory, the present study hypothesized that parental vigilance, assessed as maternal closeness and monitoring, and parental Internet monitoring would be negatively associated with Internet dependency, and that these links would be mediated by low self-control. Based on a school-based sample of adolescents (N=620; 14-19 years, 46% male) residing in a rural county in the Southeastern United States, results provided partial support for the study hypotheses. Only indirect effects of parenting were supported by the data. More specifically, findings provided evidence that parental vigilance acted as a protective factor for Internet dependency mediated through low self-control. Implications and future directions are discussed.