Belle, Carolla Spitzmueller, Christiane

Adolescents' problematic internet use in secondary school students in Lagos, Nigeria: A preliminary examination of individual and family-based predictors and consequences

By Thomas, Candice L.

With the rise of internet accessibility and usage among adolescents, we need to better understand the ways in which family experiences may be impacting problematic internet usage (PIU) for adolescents. Using data collected at two time points from a sample of adolescents (N = 741) enrolled in private secondary schools in Lagos, Nigeria, we examine the roles of family and parental work experience factors on adolescent PIU and the ways in which this PIU may be associated with negative adolescent and family outcomes. Results suggest that PIU is positively associated with increased adolescent aggression (p = .008) and serves as a mechanism for the indirect positive relationship between parental monitoring of online activity and family satisfaction (p < .05). In addition, there are a variety of individual (quantity of internet usage, p < .001), family (family satisfaction, p < .001, and familialism, p < .001) and parental (parent-child attachment, p < .001, parental monitoring of online activity, p = .007, and low parental work-family conflict, p < .05) factors that are negatively related to PIU behaviors for adolescents.