Family relationships and bonds in the digital age: What should be taken into account when considering the tendency towards excessive Internet use among children?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15633/pch.16109Słowa kluczowe:
child, parent, family relationships, family ties, excessive Internet useAbstrakt
The everyday functioning of contemporary society increasingly depends on modern technologies that support basic needs, workplace cooperation, social interaction, and leisure activities. Among these technologies, the Internet continues to play a prominent role by providing access to information and services and by constantly expanding its functions in response to consumer demand. Consequently, the critical evaluation of online content and the regulation of time spent on activities that do not always contribute to personal development are increasingly necessary. These issues should not be underestimated, particularly among young people, whose activities are closely linked to the Internet and the virtual environment. In this regard, parental approaches and the quality of family relationships may play a key role in preventing children from spending excessive time on the Internet, social media, and computer networks. The aim of this study was to analyse parent–child relationships and parental bonds as statistically significant predictors of excessive Internet use among children. The research sample consisted of 145 families (N = 290 respondents) living in the Banská Bystrica region. The mean age was 43.55 years for parents (SD = 5.56) and 12.40 years for children (SD = 1.52). Although statistically significant correlations were found between the variables examined, most were weak but non-trivial. Among the types of parent–child relationships, closeness was a statistically significant predictor of excessive Internet use among children (β = −0.223; p = 0.013); among the types of parental bonds, the approach bond was a statistically significant predictor (β = −0.348; p < 0.001). The results suggest that closer parent–child relationships and emotional understanding tend to reduce excessive Internet use. The tendency to misuse the Internet and its affordances appears to be associated with a set of factors related to the family environment and the rules or principles applied within it.
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Prawa autorskie (c) 2026 Soňa Kollárová, Michal Novocký, Miriam Niklová
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