Family, Mediation & Internet Risks: The Study of the Relation between Parental Mediation Strategies and Adolescents' Exposure to Internet risks

Rapid innovations in communication technologies and the consequences of the Covid 19 epidemic for social interaction have pushed much of adolescent activity to the Internet. The increasing use of the Internet by adolescents, along with unprecedented opportunities, has also created emerging risks. The present study aimed to study the relationship between surveillance strategies and religion with various types of Internet risks. In this regard, 1806 students aged 18-13 in Yasuj city were selected by inverted random sampling technique and answered the questions of the online questionnaire. The results showed that there is a significant correlation between the variables of parental mediation strategy and the Internet use and the rate of adolescents' exposure to Internet risks. The results of structural equation analysis showed that parental enabling mediation and restrictive mediation strategies have a negative and significant correlation (r = -0.194) and (r = -0.106) with adolescents' exposure to Internet risks, respectively. Enabling mediation reduces the risks as children and adolescents use the Internet, while restrictive mediation is less successful even as adolescents use the Internet. This study shows that seek to restrict Internet use at the individual, family, and consequently macro levels has less of an impact on reducing Internet risks than empowering mediation that interacts with the child while supporting the Internet and they are trying to increase his internet literacy.