Ezgi ÖZSEREZLİ, Hatice Ayça KALOĞLU
Journal of Health Sciences and Medicine - 2026;9(5):1297-1303
Aims: Social media use has become an integral part of daily life and may influence parenting behaviors and family functioning. This study aimed to examine the association between social media addiction and parenting styles among parents of children aged 0-12 years attending a psychiatric outpatient clinic and to evaluate the contribution of key sociodemographic factors to these relationships. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 230 parents of children aged 0-12 years recruited from the Psychiatry Clinic of Ankara Etlik City Hospital. Data were collected using a sociodemographic information form, the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, and the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ankara Etlik City Hospital Scientific Researches Ethics Committee (Date: 24.12.2025, Decision No: AEŞH-BADEK1-2025-749), and written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Correlation analyses and multiple linear regression models were performed to examine associations between social media addiction and parenting styles. Results: Social media addiction scores were positively correlated with authoritarian (r=0.380, p<0.001) and permissive parenting styles (r=0.287, p<0.001), and negatively correlated with authoritative parenting (r=-0.291, p<0.001). In multivariate regression analyses, social media addiction remained a significant predictor of all parenting style dimensions after adjustment for sociodemographic variables. Higher social media addiction scores were associated with higher authoritarian and permissive parenting scores and lower authoritative parenting scores. In addition, gender, marital status, income level, and number of children were significantly associated with parenting style dimensions. Conclusion: In this psychiatric outpatient sample, social media addiction was associated with variations in parenting style dimensions even after controlling for sociodemographic factors. These findings suggest that digital media engagement may represent an important contextual factor associated with parenting behavior patterns. Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the direction and underlying mechanisms of these associations.
