Problematic smartphone use (PSU) is a prevalent disorder among adolescents, with estimated rates ranging between 10 and 30 % (Csibi et al., 2021, Elhai et al., 2019, Lemola et al., 2015, Reer et al., 2021, Sohn et al., 2019). It is typically characterized by an extensive desire to use the smartphone, functional impairments in daily behaviors due to an overuse of the device, and feelings of distress when switching it off is required (Busch and McCarthy, 2021, Kardefelt-Winther et al., 2017). Unfortunately, PSU often leads to more general impairments in social and occupational functioning as well as anxious and depressive emotions (Yang, Fu, Liao, & Li, 2020) to the point that it had become one of the most difficult parenting challenges of our era (Isikoglu Erdogan et al., 2019, Livingstone et al., 2015, Radesky et al., 2016).

Without underestimating this unique challenge of the digital era, parental characteristics and familial environments are believed to play a crucial role in the appearance, maintenance, and severity of the PSU (Guo et al., 2019, Kim, 2022, Lai et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2023). A literature review by Nielsen, Favez, and Rigter (2020) for example, which focused on problematic gaming and internet use, indicated that positive parenting and positive family dynamics are key protective factors against these problematic behaviors in adolescents. Indeed, adolescence is typically considered as a developmental period when parents' influence is diminishing (Collins and Laursen, 2004, Steinberg, 2001), but the overall environment in the family and the parents' own behaviors and characteristics are still proven to have a significant impact on the child's online behavior (Wang et al., 2018). A longitudinal study from China for example, found that the quality of the relationships and communication between parents and children predicted the problematic gaming behaviors of high school students (She, Zhang, & Yang, 2022).

Nevertheless, the literature on this topic suffers from two conceptual gaps. First, most of the studies seem to focus on the behavioral-addictive aspects of the PSU, while failing to consider its socio-emotional aspects. Second, only very few studies examined the longitudinal effects of the parents' practices and communication strategies on their children's PSU (Chang et al., 2019, Hwang et al., 2017). In the present study we address these gaps through a six-month follow-up of family triads (i.e., mothers, fathers and adolescents). Below we describe the multidimensional nature of the dependent variable of the study (i.e., the PSU), alongside a brief overview of the literature on the various parental strategies associated with PSU.

Inspired by the family systematic approach (Erel & Burman, 1995) and the hybrid ecosystem perspective, which views the digital space as an inherent component of our daily activities, concerns, and relationships (Granic, Morita, & Scholten, 2020), we aimed investigate the multilayered aspects of PSU. Specifically, we used the 3-factorail scale suggested by Zhitomirsky-Geffet and Blau (2016) that assesses social environment pressure and emotional gain in addition to the actual addiction-like behaviors, which are typically researched in the field of PSU.

Social environment pressure is defined as the ability of social environment contexts to generate expectations about the use of the various online applications, which in turn, impacts the child's use or overuse of the smartphone (Festl, 2021, Gui and Bu¨chi, 2019, Halfmann and Rieger, 2019, Hefner et al., 2017, Herrero et al., 2022) and therefore could lead eventually to dependency and problematic behaviors. Complementing this social aspect of PSU, the emotional gain factor refers to the subjective rewards and gratifications that are involved in the child's usage of the smartphone (Song et al., 2004, Wegmann et al., 2022, Yang and Tung, 2007). This factor consists also of emotional compensations as conceptualized in the Interaction of Person Affect Cognition Execution model (I-PACE) of addictive behaviors (Brand et al., 2019), since overuse of smartphones may reflect or compensate for psychosocial struggles, such as stress, loneliness, and depression, and provide an artificial (and potentially addictive) sense of pleasure, belongingness, and safety (De-Sola Gutiérrez, Rodríguez de Fonseca, & Rubio, 2016).

Notably, parents are not always aware of these multilayered aspects of PSU. They often miss the psychosocial difficulties that drive their children to engage in PSU behaviors (through the aforementioned compensatory mechanism, for example), as many children do not hurry to share their emotional struggles with their parents (Ihm, 2018). Indeed, some research has already addressed this important, parent-adolescent communication channel, but the available studies typically focused, either on the parents' perspective (Yang et al., 2022, Yang et al., 2022) or on the adolescents' perspective (Marciano & Camerini, 2022). In this research, we therefore aimed to integrate both perspectives as suggested by several scholars (Gong et al., 2022, Lai et al., 2022), and chose to examine both the adolescents' and the parents' perspectives about PSU.

Despite the wide use of smartphones, most adolescents do not develop PSU, suggesting the existence of protective factors (Ji, Yin, Zhang, & Wong, 2022). These factors may include positive childhood experiences (Wang et al., 2021) as well as positive parent-adolescent communication (Efrati, 2023a, Efrati, 2023b, She et al., 2022). Early memories of warmth and safety, for example, were found to be negatively correlated with mobile phone addiction (Zheng, Huang, Xie, Peng, & Zhou, 2022). Similarly, the quality of the relationship and communication between parents and children was found to be linked negatively with internet gaming disorder (She et al., 2022).

Family environment, parental behavior, and parental characteristics are known to be key factors that influence children’s and adolescents’ behaviors online (Wang et al., 2018). These factors are believed to enhance the child's emotion regulation skills (Lin, Ko, & Wu, 2011). In contrast, under stressful conditions (e.g., negative family environment), adolescents might lack the ability to regulate their emotions and consequently be involved in risk behaviors (Karaer and Akdemir, 2019, Kerr et al., 2019). In this vein, PSU could be seen as a manifestation of emotion regulation deficits, which were originally elicited, or currently preserved, by a negative family environment (Hoffner & Lee, 2015).

Indeed, studies show that family cohesion (Li, Garland, & Howard, 2014), supportive parental monitoring (Yen, Yen, Chen, Chen, & Ko, 2007), positive parent-adolescent relationships (Park, Kim, & Cho, 2008), attachment to parents (Lee & Lee, 2017), low family expressiveness, high family conflicts (Sela, Zach, Amichay-Hamburger, Mishali, & Omer, 2020), and a democratic parenting style (Bae, 2015) – all serve as protective factors against problematic online behavior and PSU. By contrast, parental neglect (Sun, Liu, & Yu, 2019), psychological abuse (Kwak, Kim, & Yoon, 2018), over-protective or demanding parenting (Wu et al., 2016), and negative parent–child relationships (Park et al., 2008) – all serve as potential risk factors of PSU.

Inspired by the parental mediation theory that distinguishes between different types of communication styles and their positive/negative effects on the child (Beyens, Valkenburg, & Piotrowski, 2019), the current inquiry also targeted the four recognized types of mediation strategies that were linked to children's smartphone use in previous research (Boniel-Nissim et al., 2020, Efrati and Boniel-Nissim, 2021, Nathanson, 1999) – the restrictive, negative active, positive active and co-use mediation strategies.

Restrictive mediation focuses on rules and boundaries and usually does not provide a forum for an open discussion; rather, it is intended to convey a clear message that smartphone use is prohibited. Parents using a negative active mediation approach will reject, refute, or criticize a behavior. These parents often tell their adolescence how smartphone use is bad or dangerous for them. Positive active approach puts the emphasis on healthy and beneficial smartphone use behaviors. Parents who use this type of mediation typically express their agreement with or approval of a given behavior (Nathanson, 2001) and often guide their children how to use smartphones in a healthy and intelligent manner. Finally, co– use mediation refers to the shared usage of the smartphone by the parent and the adolescent. This strategy relates to watching, surfing, or playing together online, often without discussing the amount of time or the type of content being consumed.

Notably, the existing research on mediation strategies typically focuses on parents only (Chen and Chng, 2016, Mendoza, 2009, Shin and Li, 2017) and on media usage and risk behaviors online (Livingstone & Helsper, 2008). The findings of this line of research are mixed, with some studies suggesting that the positive active approach is associated with the most positive outcomes (Nathanson, 2001) and others indicating that a combination of different mediation strategies is beneficial (Chen and Chng, 2016, Kalmus et al., 2022).

Indeed, the existing literature that addressed parental mediation within the context of problematic internet use and gaming seems more extensive, but this literature also consists of mixed evidence. The previously cited literature review by Nielsen, Favez, Liddle, and Rigter (2019) did not indicate of a specific form of parental mediation that correlates consistently with both problematic behaviors. While abstaining from parental mediation exacerbates screen use issues, active mediation (e.g., engaging in conversations with the teenage child), appeared to alleviate problems in internet use but showed less clarity in problematic gaming. Similarly, restrictive mediation on problematic internet use demonstrated mixed effects, ranging from positive to negative outcomes.

Furthermore, an updated systematic review and meta-analysis by Fam et al. (2023) reported of a significant correlation between active mediation and co-using mediation with problematic internet use, while restrictive mediation was not found as a significant predictor. Correspondingly, the authors conclude that their subgroup analyses unveiled nuanced relationships between parental mediation strategies and problematic use of digital media.

Further research is therefore needed, especially considering the scarcity of the studies that targeted the links between parental mediation strategies and the appearance and maintenance of PSU. Through a detailed inquiry of the theory-driven factors discussed in this introduction, the current study aims to identify the parental factors and strategies that contribute the most to the reduction in PSU among adolescents.

Based on the available research on this topic, we formulated the following hypotheses:

The quality of the communication between parents and children (in general and more specifically about smartphone use) is expected to be associated negatively with the various dimensions of PSU (Zhang et al., 2023).

With regards to the different dimensions of PSU, we hypothesized that children from more conservative communities will have less social environment pressure to use smartphones. Similarly, we expected that children who experience warmth and support from their parents will have less need to derive emotional gain from smartphone use (Kim, 2022).

The restrictive and active mediation strategies are also expected to be associated negatively with the three dimensions of PSU. In contrast, the 'co-use' mediation strategy is expected to be positively associated with these dimensions of PSU (Hwang et al., 2017).

The age of the parents and the adolescents (Lai et al., 2022, Sohn et al., 2019), as well as the socio-economic status (Lin & Liu, 2020) of the family is expected to be associated positively with the various dimensions of PSU. In contrast, the educational levels of the parents are expected to be associated negatively with the three dimensions of PSU (Fitzpatrick et al., 2022).

Finally, we expected that over time, the various dimensions of PSU will be linked to a combination of parental factors, which can be identified through interaction analyses.

Altogether, the examination of these hypotheses, at baseline and over time, including the potential interactions between the parental factors and the time period of the study, is expected to bring forth the most valuable factors that protect adolescents from the risks of PSU behaviors.