Background and aims: Despite many positive benefits, mobile phone use can be associated with harmful and detrimental behaviors. The aim of this study was twofold: to examine (a) cross-cultural patterns of perceived dependence on mobile phones in ten European countries, first, grouped in four different regions (North: Finland and UK; South: Spain and Italy; East: Hungary and Poland; West: France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland), and second by country, and (b) how socio-demographics, geographic differences, mobile phone usage patterns, and associated activities predicted this perceived dependence. Methods: A sample of 2,775 young adults (aged 18–29 years) were recruited in different European Universities who participated in an online survey. Measures included socio-demographic variables, patterns of mobile phone use, and the dependence subscale of a short version of the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire (PMPUQ; Billieux, Van der Linden, & Rochat, 2008). Results: The young adults from the Northern and Southern regions reported the heaviest use of mobile phones, whereas perceived dependence was less prevalent in the Eastern region. However, the proportion of highly dependent mobile phone users was more elevated in Belgium, UK, and France. Regression analysis identified several risk factors for increased scores on the PMPUQ dependence subscale, namely using mobile phones daily, being female, engaging in social networking, playing video games, shopping and viewing TV shows through the Internet, chatting and messaging, and using mobile phones for downloading-related activities. Discussion and conclusions: Self-reported dependence on mobile phone use is influenced by frequency and specific application usage.

In this study, the association between parenting styles and short- and long-term socialization outcomes was analyzed using a two-dimensional model of four types of parenting styles. The socialization outcomes analyzed were self-esteem and internalization of social values. Participants were a sample of Spanish adolescents (n = 571) and older adults (n = 527). Results showed that both adolescents and older adults from indulgent families reported equal or even higher self-esteem than those from authoritative households, whereas those from neglectful and authoritarian homes were consistently associated with the lowest levels of self-esteem. Regarding internalization of social values, adolescents and older adults raised in indulgent and authoritative families prioritized self-transcendence values (universalism and benevolence) and conservation values (security, conformity, and tradition) as compared to those from authoritarian and neglectful homes, whereas those from neglectful and authoritarian families showed lower scores in all internalization of social values measures. These results suggest that the combination of high levels of parental warmth and involvement and low levels of strictness and imposition (i.e., indulgent parenting style) is an optimum parenting strategy in the cultural context where the study was conducted, and that the link between parenting styles and socialization outcomes share a common short- and long- term pattern. ,En este estudio se analizaron los estilos parentales de socialización familiar y sus resultados a corto y largo plazo aplicando el modelo de dos dimensiones y cuatro tipologías de socialización. Los resultados de la socialización parental analizados en los hijos fueron la autoestima y la internalización de los valores sociales. Los participantes fueron adolescentes (,n, = 571) y adultos mayores (,n, = 527) españoles. Los resultados indicaron que tanto los adolescentes como los adultos mayores de las familias indulgentes mostraron igual e incluso mayor autoestima que los de las familias autorizativas, mientras que los de las familias autoritarias y negligentes se asociaban de manera consistente a los niveles de autoestima más bajos. Respecto a la internalización de los valores sociales, los adolescentes y adultos mayores de familias indulgentes y autorizativas priorizaron los valores de autotrascendencia (universalismo y benevolencia) y conservación (seguridad, conformidad y tradición) en comparación con los de hogares autoritarios y negligentes y los de las familias negligentes y autoritarias mostraron puntuaciones más bajas en todas las medidas de internalización de valores sociales. Estos resultados sugieren que la combinación de altos niveles de aceptación e implicación, junto con bajos niveles de severidad e imposición (el estilo parental indulgente), constituye la estrategia parental óptima en el contexto cultural donde se ha realizado el estudio y que la relación entre los estilos parentales y los resultados de la socialización comparten un mismo patrón a corto y largo plazo.

Objective: We examine parenting styles (characterized by warmth and strictness, i.e., neglectful, indulgent, authoritarian and authoritative) as either a protective or risk factor for adolescence drinking. Design: Two 4 × 2 × 3 multi-factorial MANOVAs. Sample consisted of 996 underage Spanish adolescents, 532 males (53.4%), ranging from 15 to 17 years old. Main outcome measures: Alcohol use (wine, beer, mixed drinks and liquors) and abuse and motivations for drinking (social acceptance and self-enhancement) and non-drinking (harsh preventive rules and awareness of alcohol's harmful effects). Results: Lower risk of alcohol use and abuse was found in adolescents with indulgent parenting, and higher risk for adolescents with authoritarian parenting. Adolescents from indulgent parenting style homes had equal adjustment (lower self-enhancement and higher harsh preventive rules and awareness of alcohol's harmful effects) or even better (lower social acceptance) than those from authoritative parenting style homes. Consistently, the highest risk parenting styles identified were the authoritarian and neglectful styles (α=.05). Conclusion: At least in some cultures, warmth and reasoning, shared by authoritative and indulgent parenting styles, seem the recommended way to protect offspring from drinking. Effective alcohol prevention and intervention programs should include strategies tailored specifically to this new cultural context where parenting takes place.

Emergent research seriously questions the use of parental strictness as the best parenting strategy in all cultural contexts. Moreover, previous research on environmental socialization offers inconsistent findings about which specific parenting practices would be the most appropriate for environmental socialization. The present paper aims to examine parents’ contribution (i.e., authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, and neglectful) to adolescents’ self-esteem and internalization of environmental values. Participants were 308 Spanish adolescents with 171 females (55.5%), between 12 and 17 years old. The four parenting styles were defined using measures of parental warmth and strictness. Self-esteem was captured with global and multidimensional measures. Internalization of environmental values was evaluated by measuring the priority given to biospheric values. Results revealed a consistent pattern between parenting styles and adolescent self-esteem and internalization of environmental values. Overall, adolescents from homes characterized by parental warmth (i.e., indulgent and authoritative) have higher self-esteem and greater internalization of environmental values than their counterparts. These findings clearly contrast with those obtained in other cultural contexts where parental strictness is essential in achieving well-adjusted children with optimal psychosocial development.

The 14-item Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) is one of the most frequently internationally adapted psychometric instruments developed to assess generalized problematic Internet use. Multiple adaptations of this instrument have led to versions in different languages (e.g., Arabic and French), and different numbers of items (e.g., from 5 to 16 items instead of the original 14). However, to date, the CIUS has never been simultaneously compared and validated in several languages and different versions. Consequently, the present study tested the psychometric properties of four CIUS versions (i.e., CIUS-14, CIUS-9, CIUS-7, and CIUS-5) across eight languages (i.e., German, French, English, Finnish, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Hungarian) to (a) examine their psychometric properties, and (b) test their measurement invariance. These analyses also identified the optimal versions of the CIUS. The data were collected via online surveys administered to 4,226 voluntary participants from 15 countries, aged at least 18 years, and recruited from academic environments. All brief versions of the CIUS in all eight languages were validated. Dimensional, configural, and metric invariance were established across all languages for the CIUS-5, CIUS-7, and CIUS-9, but the CIUS-5 and CIUS-7 were slightly more suitable because their model fitted the ordinal estimate better, while for cross-comparisons, the CIUS-9 was slightly better. The brief versions of the CIUS are therefore reliable and structurally stable instruments that can be used for cross-cultural research across adult populations.

The prevalence of mobile phone use across the world has increased greatly over the past two decades. Problematic Mobile Phone Use (PMPU) has been studied in relation to public health and comprises various behaviours, including dangerous, prohibited, and dependent use. These types of problematic mobile phone behaviours are typically assessed with the short version of the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire (PMPUQ–SV). However, to date, no study has ever examined the degree to which the PMPU scale assesses the same construct across different languages. The aims of the present study were to (i) determine an optimal factor structure for the PMPUQ–SV among university populations using eight versions of the scale (i.e., French, German, Hungarian, English, Finnish, Italian, Polish, and Spanish); and (ii) simultaneously examine the measurement invariance (MI) of the PMPUQ–SV across all languages. The whole study sample comprised 3038 participants. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were extracted from the demographic and PMPUQ-SV items. Individual and multigroup confirmatory factor analyses alongside MI analyses were conducted. Results showed a similar pattern of PMPU across the translated scales. A three-factor model of the PMPUQ-SV fitted the data well and presented with good psychometric properties. Six languages were validated independently, and five were compared via measurement invariance for future cross-cultural comparisons. The present paper contributes to the assessment of problematic mobile phone use because it is the first study to provide a cross-cultural psychometric analysis of the PMPUQ-SV.