Parental neglect and emotional wellbeing among adolescent students from India: social network addiction as a mediator and gender as a moderator

The purpose of the present study is to empirically examine the effect of parental neglect on the social network (SN) addiction of younger adults. Based on Family System Theory and Attachment Theory, the present study also examines the effect of SN addiction on emotional wellbeing. In addition, the role of gender as a moderator in the relationship between parental neglect and SN addiction and emotional wellbeing was studied. The data collected from 185 young adult students from various educational institutions in the southern part of India (Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu) was analyzed after thoroughly checking the psychometric properties of the structured instrument. Hayes’s PROCESS was employed to analyze the data and test hypotheses. The regression results reveal: (i) parental neglect is positively and significantly related to SN addiction and negatively related to emotional wellbeing, (ii) SN addiction is negatively related to emotional wellbeing, (iii) gender moderates the relationship between parental neglect and SN addiction, (iv) gender moderates the relationship between parental neglect and emotional wellbeing, and (v) SN addiction mediates the relationship between parental neglect and emotional wellbeing. This study contributes to families and the literature on gender to some extent. The study suggests that parents need to care for young adults and prevent them from misusing the internet and social media. The study highlights that young adolescent girls in India were better when compared to adolescent boys, even when parental neglect was very high. This finding corroborates the literature on gender that males are more addicted to SN than females; thereby, the emotional wellbeing of females was better when compared to males. The conceptual model in the present research, to our knowledge, is the first of its kind in India to examine the social network addiction by young adults and gender as a moderator. The psychological implications of social network addiction are discussed.