Family Characteristics and Intergenerational Conflicts over the Internet ...

Family Characteristics and Intergenerational Conflicts over the Internet

Gustavo S. Mesch (*) Oxford Internet Institute and Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of Haifa

(*) I would like to thank Raine Lee, Amanda Lenhart, and the Pew Internet and American Life Project for data access and useful comments on the research project. Direct all correspondence to Gustavo S. Mesch, Oxford Internet Institute, 1 St. Giles, Oxford University, Oxford, UK. Email: [email protected]

2 Family Characteristics and Intergenerational Conflicts over the Internet

Abstract The rapid expansion of computer use and Internet connection has the potential to change patterns of family interaction. Conflicts over adolescents’ autonomy, parental authority, and control of the computer may take place. This study investigated family characteristics related to the likelihood of conflicts between parents and adolescents. A conceptual framework derived from family development and human ecology theory was used and a secondary analysis of a special survey of 754 children aged 12 to 17, who used the Internet, and their parents, collected by Pew Internet and American Life project, was conducted. The most salient finding was that adolescent-parent conflicts over Internet use were strongly related to the perception that the adolescent was a computer expert. Families in which adolescents were considered experts in new technologies were more likely to experience conflicts. Parents' attempt to reduce adolescent autonomy by creating rules regulating time of Internet use, was found to increase the likelihood of family arguments over the Internet. Finally, intergenerational conflicts over the Internet were higher in families in which parents expressed concern over the potential negative consequences of Internet use. The implications of the findings are discussed.

3 Family Characteristics and Intergenerational Conflicts over the Internet The rise in the use of the Internet in society has stimulated research on how these new technologies are associated with everyday life. Scholars have studied the relationship of new information and communication technologies and the extent of community involvement and participation (Hampton and Wellman 2002; Mesch and Levanon 2003), interpersonal relations, sociability and social capital (Katz and Rice 2002; Robinson, et al. 2002) and work (Haythornwhite and Kuzner 2002; Salaff 2002). Despite this large body of research, the existing research literature on the impact of computer technologies on the family is very limited (Watt and White 1999; Hughes and Hans 2001). This lack of research is surprising as the incorporation of computer technologies at the home is a complex process in which family members take an active role making or not making them acceptable and familiar (Silverstone and Haddon 1996). This process, has been described as domestication,e.g., “ a process in which new technologies, by definition to a significant degree unfamiliar, and therefore both exciting but possibly also threatening and perplexing, are brought (or not) under control by and on behalf of domestic users” (Silverstone and Haddon 1996 : 60). The concept of domestication implies a two-way process, in which the consumer changes the meaning and influence of technologies and in the process the culture and patterns of interactions of the family is in turn affected. Similarly, Katz and Rice (2002) using a Syntopia framework, argue that Internet use is an integral part of individuals’ social interactions, part of the larger fabric of communication and social interaction. It encourages specialization and differentiation, and new forms of interactions including family social interactions.

4 Some scholars have suggested that the Internet has the potential to exert positive effects on the family. The Internet provides access to online information on family related issues such as parenting, children’s school needs, and divorce. Participation in online discussions facilitates access to social networks that supply social support, advice, and guidance to families (Hughes and Hans 2001). For children computers are a way of acquiring new skills and improving school achievements. Children who had a home computer had higher test scores in mathematics and reading, even after controlling for family income and for cultural and social capital (Atewell and Battle 1999; Atewell 2001). Family communication can improve as the computer provides opportunities for parents and children to cooperate in activities such as computer games and software installation (Sutherland 2003; Kiessler et al. 2000; Orleans and Laney, 2000). Others have expressed concern that Internet access at the household may negatively change patterns of interaction between parents and children, increasing intergenerational conflicts and weakening family cohesion (Watt and White 1999; Lenhart et al. 2001; Mesch 2003). Internet use is a time-consuming activity, and to the extent that children are connected for extensive periods an impact on the time children and parents spend together may be expected ( Kraut et al. 1998; Katz and Rice 2002). Time spent together is a precondition for good quality relations between children and parents, and a reduction in such time is detrimental to family cohesion (Subrahmanyam et al. 2001). Competition for scarce resources has been identified as another reason for parentchildren conflicts. In most households there is only one computer, and parents and children compete for computer-use time (Lenhart et al. 2001; Holloway and Valentine

5 2002). Parents and adolescents, especially in large households, need to negotiate for PC time and to create new rules regarding patterns of use (Frohlich et al. 2001). Another cause of conflict is concern about the nature of the online world. Parents are worried about what their children might see or read online. Some parents use devices designed to monitor or control the types of homepages that children can access in order to supervise the content (Lenhart et al. 2001). Increased surveillance of adolescents’ activities can create arguments over autonomy. The possibility that youngsters using the Web might convey information about themselves and their families to marketers enabling them to create detailed profiles of a family’s lifestyle is an additional concern ( Turow and Nir 2000). Accurate or not, such portraits can influence how marketers treat family members, for example, what discounts they give them, what materials they send them, how much they communicate with them, and even whether they want to deal with them at all. Concerns over time displacement, exposure to violent and pornographic contents, and competition for scarce resources are not new and have dominated much of the discussion on the influence of other home technologies such as television (Aluja-Fabregat and Torrubi-Beltri 1998; Felson 1996; Hough and Erwin 1997). The introduction of computers into the family has the potential to create new conflicts over authority and autonomy. Parents’ concern may impel them to formulate rules on the amount of Internet use. Adolescents perceive rules as an interference in personal matters and an attempt to reduce their aspirations for increased autonomy (Smetana 1988). Computer use requires knowledge and skills, and children acquire them before their parents. The balance of family power may change as the adolescent becomes the person in the family to whom

6 others turn for technical help. Studies have shown that when this is the case adolescents monopolize the machine and restrict the computer use of other family members (Kiessler et al. 2000; Watt and White 1999). While past studies suggest the potential for intergenerational arguments (Kiessler et al. 2000; Watt and White 1999), less is known about parents’ and adolescents’ characteristics that affect these conflicts. This study expands our knowledge in two ways. First, it explores the family characteristics that influence the development of such conflicts; second, it investigates whether controversy over autonomy/authority and family role reversal (children acquiring expertise) are sources of conflict between parents and adolescents. FAMILY DEVELOPMENT AND HOME COMPUTERS This study draws upon the conceptual framework developed by Watt and White (1999). They take a family development and human ecology approach to the study of the effects of computers and the Internet on the family.The assumption is that the effects of the computer on families depend on the family’s developmental stage(Watt and White 1999) 1. For example, the communication aspect of computers can support the process of mate selection as individuals who have never met before can establish a close and intimate relationship. At the stage of early preschool children, participation in a community bulletin board may provide the family with help in babysitting and finding extra-curricular activities (Mesch and Levanon, 2003). In the post-parenting age, when adult children have left home, computers may facilitate family communication as they provide a new channel for family members to communicate and to share experiences through email or Instant Messenger. Regarding the more specific influences of computers

7 in the family, Watt and White (1999) suggest turning to human ecology theory. The human ecology approach perceives human development as taking place within the context of relationships. In this perspective the family is a social system and technology is conceived as a major source of social change. Technological innovations enter the family creating changes in role performance and specialization. New information is converted into new functions resulting in the specialization of some of their members and changes in specialization involve changes in the nature of the relationships in the subsystems of the family. Following the developmental approach that predicts different outcomes according to the family stage of development. In this paper the focus is on families with adolescents in which parents’ and adolescents’ relationships center on issues of parental authority and adolescent autonomy (Fuligni 1998; Smetana 1988) . ADOLESCENT PERCEPTION OF AUTONOMY Adolescence is a period in which families need to adjust and adapt their relationships to accommodate the increasingly maturing adolescent. Many of their exchanges concern parents’ regulation of adolescents’ everyday lives, such as curfew rules, friendship relations, and personal activities such as phone and TV use (Collins and Russel 1991). Studies on adolescents show that as they become older they endorse parental authority less and less over aspects of their personal lives. At the same time they demand more and more autonomy and show greater readiness to disagree openly with their parents (Fuligni 1998). Of particular importance are the domains of parent-adolescent disagreement over authority and autonomy. In one study adolescents and parents were found to agree that

8 parents had legitimate authority over moral issues (adolescent actions that can be harmful to others or violate mutual trust), prudential issues (smoking and drinking behavior), and friendship issues (seeing friends that parents do not like). As for personal issues such as regulation of TV time, regulation of phone calls, and choosing clothes, adolescents regarded them as less legitimately subject to parental jurisdiction, and obedience less obligatory, than other issues (Smetana and Asquith, 1994). Furthermore, the frequency and intensity of parents’ and adolescents’ conflicts over personal issues proved relatively high (Smetana and Asquith, 1994).2 As rules are seen as an intrusion into adolescent's desire for autonomy, families in which rules exist that limit the time that children can use media are perhaps more likely to experience conflicts. H1: Families in which rules regulate the time that the adolescent can engage in using the phone, watching TV, and using the Internet are more likely to report intergenerational arguments than families in which no rules for the regulation of the use of these media exist. ADOLESCENT AUTONOMY AND PARENTAL AUTHORITY Families are social systems characterized by a hierarchy of authority. The introduction of the computer has the potential to change that hierarchy as the adolescent becomes the family expert on whom other family members rely for technical advice and guidance (Watt and White, 1999). Under these conditions the adolescent increases his/her resources vis-a-vis the parents and his/her ability to dominate the family sphere. A study of computer help-seeking among 93 U.S. families found that in most of them teenagers were more likely than parents to give help to others in the family (Kiesler et al. 2000).

9 Similarly in the UK studies have shown that traditional adult child relations appear to be reversed in many households because children are more technologically competent than their parents (Holloway and Valentine 2002). Children, thus were able to define to a much greater degree than family members the meaning and uses of the computer in the home(Sutherland et al. 2003). H2: Families in which the adolescent is considered the computer expert are more likely to report conflicts than families in which the adolescent is not an expert. During adolescence children's and parents' expectations from each other change, and gaps in these expectations can cause family conflict. Children may expect adolescence to be a time of greater freedom, and parents may expect adolescents to selfregulate their behavior so that social and leisure activities do not interfere with school activities (Collins and Russel 1991). Parents are aware that computers can serve as a tool to enhance academic performance. For example, word processing programs that correct spelling and provide a thesaurus can increase language abilities. A study found that parents appreciated the new educational resources that the Internet provided to their children, yet they worried about the erosion of standards (reading short articles instead of books) and the credibility of online information (Subrahmanyam et al. 2000) and expressed concern that the Internet might distract children from other activities. Studies exploring family interaction on media issues report that parents expected adolescents to self-regulate Internet use and to make efforts to restrict the time used in computer-related activities so that they would not interfere with school work and socializing (Pasquier 2001; Livingstone and Bovill 2001). Parents may perceive frequent

10 Internet use as a violation of their expectations, and it may become a source of intergenerational conflicts. H3: the higher the frequency of adolescent Internet use, the higher the likelihood of intergenerational conflicts in the family. COMPETITION FOR SCARCE RESOURCES Given that in most households there is only one computer, parents and children compete for computer time. Studies have found that most of the adolescents went online from home, and almost all of them had to share computer time with their siblings and parents (Lenhart et al. 2001; Rivak 2001). A study that conducted in-depth interviews with 11 families reported that competition for PC time was widespread and the result was a need for daily negotiations between parents and children over computer use and high contention for PC time (Frohlich et al. 2001). Competition for computer time is more likely to intensify with larger family size as more users need to accommodate their schedules. Adolescents might consider this competition a restriction of their autonomy and are more likely to engage in arguments over it with their parents. H4a: Families in which the computer is used by parents and children will report more arguments than families in which the adolescent uses the computer alone. H4b: Family size will be positively related to the likelihood of arguments in the family. PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND ONLINE TIME Over the years a considerable body of literature reported on negative attitudes to computers (Massoud 1991). Most researchers have focused on computer anxiety, a term used to describe the negative reactions of individuals who experience bad feelings and

11 agitation in the presence of, interacting with, or thinking about computers (Gaudron and Vignoli 2002). Studies have shown that one of the most important correlates of computer anxiety is lack of computer experience (Cohen and Waught 1989; Morrow, Prell and Elroy 1986). Previous experience with Internet was found to be related to perceptions of Internet self-efficacy, namely the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute Internet actions required to produce given attainments (Eastin and LaRose, 2000). Length of access to the Internet was found to the related to more confidence in conducting online activities such as searching for information, conducting banking operations, and using the Internet to enhance social relationships (Wellman and Haythornwaite 2002; Haythornwaite and Kazmer 2002.). Parents evinced concern that the presence of the computer at home reduced the time they and their children spent together, and weakened family cohesion (Watt and White 1999). In some studies adolescents reported that Internet use did not help them to improve their relationships with their parents, and that the Internet encroached on time they would have spent with their families (Lenhart et al. 2001). This concern was expressed not only by adolescents but their parents as well (Lenhart, et al. 2001; Turow and Nir 2000). In confirmation of this concern, frequency of daily Internet use was found to be negatively related to family relations. In sum, it appears that time online and negative attitudes are expressed in anxieties over a decrease in family time and family cohesion that may result in more arguments with adolescents. H5: A negative relationship will exist between time online and intergenerational arguments. The longer the time of use, the less the likelihood of arguments between parents and children.

12 H6: Parents who express negative attitudes toward the Internet are more likely to engage in arguments over Internet use with their children. GENDER DIFFERENCES Finally, gender of the adolescent or parent may have an important influence on family relationships. Teenagers (males and females alike) relate very differently to their mothers and to their fathers (Collins and Russel 1991). Adolescents tend to be closer to their mothers, to spend more time alone with their mothers, and to feel more comfortable talking to their mothers about their problems and other emotional matters. Fathers are more likely to be perceived as relatively distant figures, who may be consulted for information, but who are rarely sought for support or guidance. Interestingly, adolescents are more likely to have arguments with their mothers than with their fathers. Apparently relationships with mothers are more emotionally intense and this intensity is reflected in both positive outcomes (such as more closeness) but also in negative outcomes such as more conflicts (Larson and Richards 1994; Collins and Russel 1991). A study using in depth interviews with families that used computers, it was found that Mother’s are concerned with the equal allocation of a scarce resource (computer time) to the members of the household (Rivak,2001 ). This seem to be the reason for some indication that the mother is more involved in the regulation of Internet use, and that it is usually the mother who creates rules over media use rather than the father (Pasquier 2001). H7: Accordingly, in this study we expected to find an interaction effect such that adolescent arguments over computer use would be more like with the mother than with the father.

13 METHOD SAMPLE The data for this study came from a special survey of 754 children, aged 12 to 17, who used the Internet, and one of their parents or guardians (total of 1,508 persons interviewed). Princeton Survey Research Associates conducted the interviews between November 2, 2000 and December 15, 2000. Children interviewed for this survey had completed a Tracking interview with the Pew Internet & American Life Project some time during 2000. The sample for the parents' survey was a random digit sample of telephone numbers selected from the continental United States. The random digit aspect of the sample was used to avoid "listing" bias, and provided representation of listed and unlisted numbers (including not-yet-listed numbers). The design of the sample achieved this representation by random generation of the last two digits of telephone numbers selected on the basis of their area code, telephone exchange, and bank number. A new sample was released daily and was kept in the field for at least five days. This ensured that the complete call procedures were followed for the entire sample. Additionally, the sample was released in replicates to ensure that the telephone numbers called were distributed appropriately across regions of the country. At least ten attempts were made to complete an interview at every household in the sample. The calls were staggered over times of day and days of the week to maximize the chances of making contact with a potential respondent. Interview refusals were re-contacted at least once in order to try again to complete an interview.

14 The Tracking polling was done in the continental United States and yielded a representative sample of the adult population of the United States. The callback survey was of those who had said they had children with Internet access. Households were called back to determine eligibility. Once a household was deemed eligible, both a parent and a randomly selected child completed an interview. Some families could not be reached for the callback portion of the survey; others did not wish to participate. The response rate of the study was 60% and the interview took about 20 minutes. INSTRUMENTS The dependent variable of the study was intergenerational conflicts. The measure was created from a survey item that asked parents if they had ever got into an argument with their child about using the Internet. Answers were coded as a dummy variable, where a “yes” response was coded 1 and a “no” response was coded 0. The measure of parental length of Internet use was created from a survey item that asked the parent when he/she first started going online. Answers were in four categories: within the last six months to a year, between one to two years, two to three years ago, and more than three years ago. The relationship of parental length of use and arguments over the net might be non-linear. It is possible that when parents start going online children’s help increases cooperation, but when parents become more independent arguments arise. To explore this possibility, in the analysis the variable was introduced as a series of four dummy variables, and the omitted category was “more than three years ago.” Internet frequency of use was measured using a question that asked the parent how often he/she went online or used email. Responses were in four categories: every day, a couple of times a week, about once a week, and less often than that. In the preliminary analysis, the

15 variable did not show a non-linear relationship. For this reason it was introduced as an ordinal variable in the analysis, where higher values indicated higher frequency of use. To measure the extent of parental concern about the effects of the Internet three survey items were used. Parents were asked, “How much, if at all, do you worry that someone your child doesn’t know might find out who he/she is or try to contact him/her?” “How much, if at all, do you worry that your child will see or read things online you do not want him/her to see or read?” “How much, if at all, do you worry that your child might get sent advertising or other types of commercial information because a company learns about him/her online?” Answers were on a four-point Likert scale from 1= not at all to 4 = a lot. By an exploratory factor analysis technique (principal components factor analysis) it was found that all the items represented a single dimension. Items were standardized and combined into a single scale with internal validity of alpha=.74. Parents’ negative attitudes to the Internet were measured by two items that asked them how much they thought using the Internet kept young people from doing more important things and caused young people to do dangerous or harmful things. Responses were on a four-point Likert scale from 1=not at all to 4= a lot. The items were highly correlated (r=.454), and a single scale was built by summation of the responses. An item that asked the adolescent how often he/she went online and used email or instant messaging measured adolescents’ extent of Internet use. The answers were on a fourpoint Likert scale from 1= not often to 4 = every day. To measure the extent of family rules, three survey items from the adolescent questionnaire were used. Adolescents were asked if their parents limited the time

16 they could spend talking on the phone, watching TV, and using email and Internet. The response categories for each item were “yes” and “no”. Each variable was coded as a dummy variable and introduced separately into the analysis. Another important family characteristic that was found in previous studies on family conflict is the extent the use of the computer is shared. A survey item from the adolescents questionnaire inquired if parents, brothers, sisters, or other members of their family also used that computer. A “yes” response was coded 1 and a “no” response was coded 0.3 Finally, in order to measure the role of expert, an item from the adolescent survey that inquired who they thought knew more about using the Internet, he/she or his/her parent, measured adolescents’ role as an expert. The response was coded 1= when the child thought he/she was more expert and 0= when the parent was thought more expert.4 In addition, a number of socio-demographic characteristics were included in the analysis: parental age (in years), parental education (in seven categories from 1=none to 8th grade to 7=post-graduate degree), race as a dummy variable when 1 indicated white American, gender when 1 indicated male, parental status when 1 indicated currently married and number of siblings. RESULTS The average age of the children was 14.61 (sd =1.67) years; 50.4% were boys and 82.9% were living in intact families. A large majority of the adolescents (72.9% ) reported being using the Internet between one and 3 years. Almost half of the adolescents (41.5%) reported that they went online everyday, and another third (33.3%) went online a couple of times a week. In terms of expertise, about two thirds

17 of the adolescents (66.3 %) reported that they were better at using the Internet than their parents. Regarding parents’ characteristics, on average they were 43.94 (sd=8.69) years old and 55.7% having less than completed college education. In terms of duration of Internet use, 28.4% reported having used the Internet less than a year. Almost half of the parents (48.8%) reported going online every day, and 22 percent a couple of times a week. As to conflicts, 40.2% of the parents reported that as a result of the Internet they had arguments with their children.

[INSERT TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE] Table 1 presents the distribution of parents’ responses for the main variables in the study. A relatively large percentage of the families reported having rules in terms of use of technology at home, but it is interesting to note that Internet was the technology for which the highest percentage of families had rules of use. Almost two thirds of the families (60.6%) reported having rules about when and for how long the children could go online. On the other hand, only 46.9% limited the time that the adolescent could spend talking on the phone and only 40.1% limited the time an adolescent could spend watching TV. According to Table 1, Internet connection creates worries and concerns among parents. More than half the parents expressed concern that strangers would try to contact their children (56.8%), that adolescents would be exposed to contents that parents did not want them to see or watch (62.4%), and that adolescents would disclose family information to commercial companies (58.7%).

18 Parents expressed concern about the consequences of the new medium. More than two thirds (68.2%) were concerned that the Internet kept young people from doing more important things and almost half of the parents (46.7%) were concerned that the Internet could cause young people to do harmful things. According to the literature, the perception that the adolescent is a computer expert seems to be important for understanding new family dynamics and conflicts. For this reason this issue was further explored 5 [INSERT TABLE 2 ABOUT HERE] Table 2 presents zero-order correlations between the adolescents’ perception of being the Internet expert at home and selected independent variables. One important finding is the positive correlation between the adolescent’s being the Internet expert in the family and intergenerational arguments. In terms of family characteristics, adolescent expertise was positively correlated with parents’ age indicating that the older the parents the higher the likelihood that the adolescent is perceived as an expert.. The role of the adolescent as the family Internet expert was also related to the length of time that parents were exposed to the Internet. The longer the time parents report being connected to the Internet, and the higher the frequency of their Internet use, the less was the likelihood that the adolescent would become the family Internet expert. Adolescent’s that are frequent users are also perceived as the household experts. An interesting finding is that the correlation between parent’s concerns and negative attitudes and adolescent role of family expert non-significant. In other words, the fact that the adolescent was considered the Internet family expert seems not to be associated with parents’ attitudes to the medium.

19 To test the hypothesis of the study a logistic regression model was used. Since the dependent variable in this study was nominal and dichotomous (i.e. “argument/ non argument”), the logistic model was deemed the best way to estimate the likelihood of its occurrence. Using this procedure one can examine the contribution of each independent variable, to the explanation of the odds of intergenerational conflict. Hence, analyzing the findings from the logistic model would provide us with the contribution of each variable to the odds of conflicts between parents and adolescents over the internet. [INSERT TABLE 3 ABOUT HERE] Table 3 presents the results of the multivariate analysis. The first model introduced socio-demographic variables and variables measuring the family rules and competition for resources. Parental education was negatively related to the likelihood of intergenerational conflicts. A plausible explanation for this finding is that as the parents’ education is higher, so is the likelihood that family disagreements will be discussed and elaborated and ways found to prevent them becoming frequent and intense conflicts. In addition, highly educated parents are more likely to possess high levels of Internet skills and Internet self-efficacy, which decrease the extent of disagreement between children and parents over the Internet use. Arguments over the Internet are more likely in larger families. The higher the number of siblings, the higher the likelihood of arguments over Internet uses. In most families there is only one computer and one phone line, which increases competition over scarce resources in large families.

20 The possibility that families that exercise rules over personal issues are more likely to experience conflicts and arguments over Internet use was explored. The findings only partially supported this argument. The results show that families in which rules regulated adolescents’ phone use and time watching TV were not more or less likely than others to experience arguments over Internet use. However, families in which rules regulated the time allowed to adolescents for Internet use experienced more conflicts than families that did not regulate the time an adolescent could devote to the Internet. The second model introduced measures of parents’ Internet use and parents’ attitudes. Arguments were less likely when parents were novice Internet users. The most salient variables in this model were parental attitudes. Concerns over the potential negative consequences of the Internet for adolescents were positively related to the likelihood of arguments. The third model introduced measures of adolescent use characteristics. It is seen that the higher the frequency of adolescents’ Internet use, the higher the likelihood of arguments between adolescents and parents. Finally, as expected, families in which the adolescent reported being the Internet expert were more likely to report intergenerational conflicts over Internet use. The literature on adolescence suggests that differences in the sources of arguments might be found according to parents’ and children’s gender. To test this hypothesis we conducted a separate analysis when the respondent to the survey was the mother and when the respondent was the father. [INSERT TABLE 4 ABOUT HERE]

21 The results show similarities and differences in the factors affecting arguments with fathers and with mothers. Both fathers and mothers reported that the likelihood of arguments over Internet use was related to family size, rules regulating Internet use, parental attitudes, adolescent frequency of use, and children being Internet experts. There were a number of differences as well. Parental education was negatively related to arguments but it reached statistical significance only for fathers. Length of parental Internet use was significant only for mothers. The shorter the time of Internet use by the mother, the less likely were conflicts over Internet use. The most salient finding was the effect of adolescent gender. Boys were more likely to argue with their mothers than girls. This gender effect might have been an artifact, in that boys were more likely to be experts. Therefore, we tested for the possibility that arguments were more likely when the adolescent who was a computer expert was a boy; but this effect was not statistically significant for mothers or for fathers. DISCUSSION The increase in number of households that report being connected to the Internet has increased interest in the social effects of the new technology on family relations. Few studies in the past investigated family adaptation to the new technology, and in general reported some evidence on the development of new conflicts between parents and adolescents over the Internet. The most salient finding was that adolescent-parent conflict over Internet use is widespread. Our study found that conflicts were reported by 40% of the sample of parents. This finding is consistent with the family ecology model that suggests that the introduction of technologies in the home is a source of change that generate role

22 differentiation and specialization. This role specialization can be observed in families in which the adolescent was perceived as the expert. Consistent with previous studies we found that when the adolescent was considered the family Internet expert the likelihood of conflicts increased (Kiessler et al., 2000 Holloway and Valentine 2002). The adolescent expert is a reverse of the traditional family role, in which parents provide guidance and expertise to the adolescents. The new expert is a source of power imbalance in the family, challenging parental authority and increasing the likelihood of conflict because the adolescent might monopolize the computer, making it unavailable to other family members. But it is important to emphasize that this finding has a positive side as well as this expertise facilitates a more extensive and diverse use of the Internet by other family members that can rely on the adolescents’ knowledge in providing the advice and guidance they need to successfully complete tasks that require the use of the computer. Conflicts were found to be more prevalent in large families. It is very likely that number of siblings represents a proxy for the number of family users. As the number of family users increases the competition for computer time is fiercer, resulting in more conflicts. In our model we expected that families in which supervision of adolescent personal issues such as amount of time allowed using the phone, watching TV, and to connect to the Internet would be related to the likelihood of parent-adolescent conflict. Our expectation arose from earlier literature that parental rules on personal issues did not enjoy legitimacy by adolescents, so they were more likely to be violated and it was this violation that sparked conflicts. Our findings suggest that conflicts between parents and

23 adolescents are not related to restriction in the use of the phone and TV but to rules that regulate the time allowed to connect to the Internet. This finding may very likely represent one of the family problems of adaptation. TV and phone are not new technologies, and over time rules have been established and accepted. The Internet is a relatively new technology, and rules for its use have not been institutionalized in family life, creating a constant requirement for negotiation that might result in some conflicts. It was expected that parental skills would influence family conflicts. The argument was that the more involved the parents were in the different aspects of Internet use, the more they would tend to be open to the new technology and to avoid confrontation with the adolescent. The findings partially supported this expectation, indicating that family conflicts were less likely in families in which parents were beginners in Internet use. A plausible explanation is that when parents are novice computer users the relationship with their children is based on cooperation. Children are a source of technical skills on which parents depend. But as parents become more experienced competition over computer time and computer use arises creating family conflicts. The domestication of technology model argues that the incorporation of technology in the household is complicated by family social dynamics. There are anxieties to be dealt with whose origin are in disruption of familiar routines, challenges to individual’s competence and threats to moral values (Silverstone and Haddon, 1996). Consistent with this approach the central contribution of the current study, beyond previous findings, it the centrality of negative parental attitudes and worries in the explanation of intergenerational conflicts. Families in which parents

24 express high concern about the negative effects of the Internet on adolescents are more likely to experience conflicts. Mothers and fathers have different sorts of relationships with their children. Fathers are perceived as distant authority figures and mothers as more close emotionally. In particular, the literature reports that father-daughter relationships are especially distant (Larson & Richards, 1994). This difference in mother and father relationships has been explained as the result of differences in the socialization of men and women. Women in Western cultures are socialized to be more emotionally expressive than men. This results in closer relationships with their children (Steinberg, 2002). Whatever the explanation, in this study arguments over the Internet were found to differ according to parent and child’s gender. The current study was based on a representative sample of the population that was connected to the Internet, and Internet connection has been shown to differ according to family education, income, and ethnicity. Households that were connected to the Internet at the time of the data collection were likely to represent more affluent, educated segments of the population. Better-educated parents are more active and involved in their children’s lives (Amato & Booth, 1997; Amato & Rivera, 1999). Families suffering financial distress are more likely to be more punitive and coercive and to report more intergenerational conflicts (Demo & Cox, 2000). As Internet access and use diffuses to less affluent families with less educated parents, intergenerational conflicts over the Internet is likely to be even more widespread than what was found in this study. More studies addressing the relationship between socio-economic composition and Internetrelated conflicts are required. At the same time, the rapid expansion of broadband

25 connection and increase in the number of computers per household might ameliorate partially these conflicts at least as they are related to competition for computer time. Our results provide an indication of family characteristics that are related to intergenerational arguments over the Internet. However, a better understanding requires the introduction of measures of type of use. Parents might be more willing to postpone their use of the computer for work purposes when adolescents use it for homework than when they use it for playing games or for chatting with friends. Future studies should incorporate more detailed questions on the type of computer use and its relationship to intergenerational conflicts. One important limitation of the study was that we lacked a measure of frequency and intensity of adolescent-parent conflicts. While the findings are robust, to fully understand the results of these family conflicts on adolescents and the family’s well being, studies that include measures of frequency, intensity, and consequences of the conflicts over the Internet should be conducted in the future.

26 Table 1 Variables Used in the Study and their Definition YES

NO

phone.

46.9

53.1 (n=753)

Parents limit the time the adolescent can spend watching TV.

40.1

59.9 (n=751)

60.6

39.4 (n=752)

56.8

43.2 (n=752)

62.4

37.6 (n=750)

58.7

41.3 (n=750)

68.2

31.8 (n=744)

46.7

53.3 (n=744)

40.2

59.7 (n= 754)

Family Rules Parents limit the time the adolescent can spend talking on the

Parents have rules about when and for how long the children can go online. Parental Concerns about Internet How much do you worry that someone your child does not know might try to contact because they see him/her online? (a lot or some) How much do you worry that your child will see or read things online that you don’t want him/her to see or read? (a lot or some) How much do you worry that your child might get sent commercial information because a company learns about him/her online? (a lot or some) Parental Attitudes to the Internet How much, if at all, do you think using the Internet keeps young people from doing more important things? (a lot or some) How much, if at all, do you think that the Internet leads young people to do dangerous or harmful things? (a lot or some) Arguments Have you ever gotten into an argument with your child about using the Internet?

27 Table 2 Zero order correlations for adolescent expertise with selected independent variables Arguments between parents and children

.136***

Parents’ age

.103***

Parents’ education

-.041

Race (1=White)

.068

Gender (1=Male)

.005

Family status (1=Married)

-.109***

Number of children at home

-.061

Family rules over phone use

-.046

Family rules over TV watching

-.095***

Family rules over Internet use

-.004

Children share PC with family members

-.079*

Parents’ length of Internet use

-.136***

Parents’ frequency of Internet use

-.198***

Parents’ negative attitudes

-.010

Parents’ Internet concerns

.050

Adolescent frequency of Internet use

.249***

***p