Gender Differences in the Association Between Parental Psychological Control and Adolescent Problematic Short-Form Video Use: A Multiple Mediation Model

Purpose: Currently, adolescent problematic short-form video use has evolved into a prominent social and public health issue. While existing literature has documented its antecedents, whether and how parental psychological control is associated with adolescent problematic short-form video use remain largely unexplored. Grounded in self-determination theory and the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model, we investigated the association and the mediating roles of ego depletion and future negative time perspective. Methods: A total of 1277 junior and senior high school students (49.18% female; Mage = 14.00±1.69 years) from central and northwestern China were recruited through cluster random sampling. Utilizing a cross-sectional approach, participants completed the Parental Psychological Control Scale, the Ego Depletion Scale, the Future Negative Scale, and an adapted version of the Social Network Service Addiction Scale. Results: After controlling for age, parental psychological control was directly and positively associated with adolescent problematic short-form video use. It was indirectly related to this behavior via the parallel and sequential mediating effects of ego depletion and future negative time perspective. Multi-group path analysis by gender showed that the link between ego depletion and problematic short-form video use was stronger among females than in males, whereas the association between parental psychological control and future negative time perspective was more pronounced among males than in females. Conclusion: These findings may inform tailored interventions for reducing problematic short-form video use. Specifically, gender-sensitive interventions may emphasize enhancing emotion-regulation and self-control skills among females and cognitively reframing future perspectives among males.