Parental Monitoring, Addictive Behaviors, and School Performance Among Racial/Ethnic Minority Youth: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

Background: A concerning behavior among many youth is problematic Internet use (PIU). PIU is associated with academic failure, mental health issues, and substance misuse. Empirical evidence indicates parental monitoring has a significant effect on addictive behaviors (including PIU) and school performance among youth. However, there is scant literature on the effects of parental monitoring on PIU and academic performance among African American and Latino adolescents, as most studies have examined PIU primarily among White and Asian youth. Therefore, this study aims to examine: (1) the effect of parental monitoring on addictive behaviors (i.e., substance misuse and PIU) and school performance (i.e., GPA); and (2) the mediation role of addictive behaviors linking parental monitoring to GPA among a sample of racial/ethnic minority youth. This study also aims to explore the relationships between mental health problems and addictive behaviors among racial/ethnic minority youth.

Methods: Cross-sectional data was collected from 247 inner city youth (M age = 16.0, SD = 1.2) in a face-to-face classroom setting using Qualtrics (an online survey software) to record participants’ responses. Most of the sample (69.2%) was African American, and 27.1% were Latino/a. More than half of the sample (63.6%) was female (35.6% male). Youth’s substance misuse, PIU, parental monitoring, and mental health symptoms were assessed using self-reported standardized measures. The participants also provided sociodemographic information. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to estimate the relationship between parental monitoring, addictive behaviors, and school performance; the relationship between mental health and addictive behaviors; and the mediation role of addictive behaviors linking parental monitoring to GPA in this sample of racial/ethnic minority youth. We controlled for youth’s age, gender, and race/ethnicity in all models. Missing data was handled using Full Information Maximum Likelihood Estimation.

Results: Results of the SEM revealed that parental monitoring was significantly directly related to PIU (b = .29, p < .001), substance misuse (b = -.16, p < .05), and GPA (b = .24, p < .05). Parental monitoring has significantly total indirect effects on GPA through substance misuse and PIU (b = -.08, p < .05). Further, self-reported depressive symptoms was significantly related to PIU (b = .19, p < .05), and anxiety was significantly related to substance misuse (b = .39, p < .001). In addition, PIU (b = .30, p < .001), substance misuse (b = .14, p < .05), and anxiety (b = .40, p < .001) were significantly related to sleep problems. Parental monitoring had significantly indirect effects on sleep problems through addictive behaviors (b = .07, p < .05). Overall, the model had an adequate fit [χ² (357) = 481.96, p = 0.00; RMSEA = .04; CFI = .94].

Conclusion and Implications: Findings suggest that parental monitoring had a significantly direct effect on addictive behaviors, and significantly direct and indirect effects on school performance through addictive behaviors. Moreover, different mental health problems (i.e., depression and anxiety) were correlated to PIU and substance misuse in this sample of racial/ethnic minority youth. Implications to research and clinical practice will be discussed.