The reciprocal relations between parental psychological control and adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use: A four-wave longitudinal study

Parental psychological control has long been considered as a negative related factor of adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use, but the influence of different strategies of psychological control is unclear. This longitudinal study aims to examine the reciprocal effects between parental psychological control and adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use, focusing on three strategies of psychological control. During four waves (T1: January 2023; T2: August 2023; T3: February 2024; T4: August 2024), a total of 1,374 Chinese adolescents completed the questionnaires of parental psychological control and problematic mobile phone use. The RI-CLPM analysis showed that parental psychological control predicted subsequent adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use positively at within-family levels, and adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use predicted subsequent parental psychological control positively at within-family levels. Further each strategy analysis suggests that authority assertion, love withdrawal, and guilt induction predicted subsequent adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use positively. Conversely, adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use predicted subsequent authority assertion and love withdrawal positively but did not predict guilt induction. The vicious cycle between certain psychological control strategies (i.e., authority assertion and love withdrawal) and adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use demonstrates the effects of negative family functioning. These findings provide a new scientific basis for the family-oriented intervention of adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use.