Technological Addiction in Adolescents: the Interplay Between Parenting and Psychological Basic Needs

Although technological addictions, similar to other behavioural addictions, share psychosocial risk factors with substance-related addictions, the studies on the interplay between contextual and personal variables in the prediction of technological addictions are still limited. For this reason, in accordance with Self-determination Theory (SDT), the aim of this study was to examine the integrated role of parental psychological control and parental autonomy with need satisfaction and need frustration in the understanding of technological addictions (Internet addiction, gaming addiction, smartphone addiction, and social network addiction) in adolescents. Using a sample of 482 adolescents (200 males) with an age range between 14 and 17, path analyses showed that both parental psychological control and need frustration predicted all the technological addictions examined. Furthermore, indirect effects from psychological control to all technological addictions through need frustration were also found. The findings are discussed in line with the SDT.