Parental Reports of Adolescent Problematic Internet Use: Associations with Emotional and Behavioral Problems and Family Functioning in Cyprus.
Excessive internet use among adolescents is a growing public health concern, yet data from Cyprus are scarce. This cross-sectional study used parent reports for 248 adolescents (12–17 years; 54.4% boys) to describe problematic internet use and examine associations with emotional–behavioral difficult...
| Published in: | Adolescents (2673-7051) Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 41 - 55 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
MDPI
Jun2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=194938835&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 194938835 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 26737051 N5G1 jtl: Adolescents (2673-7051) issn: 26737051 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 6 iid: 3 pid: 97109 pub: MDPI artinfo: ui: 194938835 194938835 194938835 10.3390/adolescents6030041 194938835 ppf: 41 ppct: 14 formats: tig: atl: Parental Reports of Adolescent Problematic Internet Use: Associations with Emotional and Behavioral Problems and Family Functioning in Cyprus. aug: au: Paradeisioti, Chrysi Kolaitis, Gerasimos Siomos, Konstantinos Giannakopoulos, Georgios affil: School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 115 27 Athens, Greece sug: subj: Internet Addiction Psychosocial Factors Parental Attitudes Evaluation Reports Affective Disorders Child Behavior Disorders Family Functioning Evaluation Severity of Illness Human Male Female Adolescence Adult Middle Age Cyprus Cross Sectional Studies Convenience Sample Surveys World Wide Web Scales Questionnaires Clinical Assessment Tools Data Analysis Software Chi Square Test Fisher's Exact Test Pearson's Correlation Coefficient Mann-Whitney U Test Kruskal-Wallis Test Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient Descriptive Statistics Linear Regression Adolescent: 13-18 years Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Male Female ab: Excessive internet use among adolescents is a growing public health concern, yet data from Cyprus are scarce. This cross-sectional study used parent reports for 248 adolescents (12–17 years; 54.4% boys) to describe problematic internet use and examine associations with emotional–behavioral difficulties and family functioning. Based on published Parent–Child Internet Addiction Test (PCIAT) cut-offs, used descriptively rather than as clinically validated Cypriot thresholds, 74.2% of adolescents in this parent-reported convenience sample fell within the broader problematic internet use range. This sample-specific proportion comprised 38.3% in the mild, 33.9% in the moderate, and 2.0% in the severe PCIAT category. Adolescents using the internet >3 h/day (n = 112) had significantly higher PCIAT scores than those using it <3 h/day (n = 136; U = 3100.00, Z = −4.72, p < 0.001). PCIAT scores correlated with conduct problems (r = 0.449), hyperactivity/inattention (r = 0.441), and total difficulties (r = 0.475), and inversely with prosocial behavior (r = −0.471; p < 0.001). Family functioning worsened across PCIAT severity categories (GF-12 means: 18.83 in the PCIAT 20–30 range vs. 29.00 in the severe range; H(3) = 28.30, p < 0.001). In multivariable regression, daily use (B = 8.02), poorer family functioning (B = 0.42), conduct problems (B = 5.28), and hyperactivity/inattention (B = 6.81) independently predicted higher PCIAT scores (R2 = 0.24), whereas emotional symptoms were not significant (p = 0.637). Findings from this convenience sample highlight the potential importance of prevention efforts targeting screen-time regulation and family relationships; longitudinal, representative, multi-informant studies are warranted. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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