Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Mobile Phone Dependence among Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Roles of Parent–Child Communication Patterns

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile phone dependence (MPD) became a common addictive behavior among adolescents because of social isolation. To understand the underlying mechanisms of the impact of social isolation on MPD, this study examined the mediating role of loneliness and the moderating role of parent–child communication patterns on social isolation and MPD. Six hundred and eighty-three adolescents from a middle school in Huang’gang city, China, were recruited to complete a self-report questionnaire. Data analysis comprised latent profile analysis and structural equation modelling. The results showed that social isolation had a significant and positive indirect effect on MPD via loneliness. In addition, three types of parent–child communication patterns were observed: complex, adaptive, and maladaptive. For adolescents with complex parent–child communication, the indirect relation of social isolation to MPD via loneliness is weaker than that of adolescents with maladaptive parent–child communication. These findings suggested that the indirect effect of social isolation on MPD via loneliness was moderated by parent-child communication patterns. Psychological intervention for MPD should emphasize relieving adolescents’ loneliness and improving the quality of their communication with parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.