Exploring the Role of Maternal Parenting Styles in Smartphone Addiction and Emotion Regulation among Male and Female Young Adults

Abstract

The current paper studied the role of maternal parenting styles in smartphone addiction and emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) among male and female young adults. A sample of 107 university students (61 males, 46 females; M age = 21.86, SD = 2.81) completed standardized measures of Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ) (Buri, 1991), Smartphone Addiction Scale – Short Version (SAS-SV) (Kwon et al., 2013) and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) (Gross & John, 2003). As a result Correlational analyses indicated that maternal authoritarian parenting style was significantly positively associated with smartphone addiction and cognitive reappraisal as an emotion regulation strategy. Regression analyses further showed that authoritarian parenting significantly predicted smartphone addiction, and cognitive reappraisal as an emotion regulation strategy. Furthermore, findings revealed no significant gender differences across the main variables; however, an additional analysis showed significant birth order differences, where first-borns reported greater use of cognitive reappraisal as compare to middle and last born. Whereas, last-born perceived higher maternal authoritative parenting as compare to middle and last born. These results underscore the influence of maternal parenting practices on maladaptive digital behaviors and highlight the role of birth order in perceiving different maternal parenting styles and use of emotion regulation strategies. Limitations, practical implications, and future research directions are discussed.