Digital Addiction, Perceived Helicopter Parental Attitudes and Dissociative Experiences: Examining Relationality in Adolescents

ABSTRACT Today, the increase in digital addiction (DA) and the impact of helicopter parenting on adolescents' mental health are becoming increasingly evident. While dissociative experiences (DE) draw attention as a problem that negatively affects the individual's perception of reality, the relationship of these two factors with such experiences gains importance. The objective of this study is to reveal the predictive power of adolescents’ DAs and perceived helicopter parental attitudes (PHPA) on DE. This study, in which the correlational survey model was used, was conducted with 543 adolescents. Data were collected using sociodemographic form, digital addiction scale, perceived helicopter parent scale and adolescent dissociative experiences scale. DA level and PHPA were found to have a significant effect on adolescents’ DE. While adolescents' DA level alone and with perceived helicopter father attitude (PHFA) had an effect on DE. When perceived helicopter mother attitude (PHMA) came into play, father attitude lost its significance and DA and PHMA together predicted adolescents' DE. In addition, adolescents who perceived their parents as “helicopter mother” and “normally father” had significantly higher DE scores. DA and PHPA cause adolescents to have DE. The PHMA eliminated the function of the father on adolescents' DE. Moreover, children with helicopter mother perception and normal father perception had more DE. These are important results showing the impact of digital addiction and parents, especially the mother, on the personality development of adolescents.