The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which family cohesion, expressiveness and conflict are associated with the likelihood of problematic use of social media and video games, whilst controlling for the effect of gender. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a total sample of 3,673 adolescents (51.3% female) with a mean age of 14.84 years. Two multiple binary logistic regression models were conducted, one for each technology, controlling for the effect of gender, using the GASA, FES and the MULTICAGE-TIC social media subscale. Results: A prevalence of problematic use of 17.4% was found for social media and 5.3% for video games. Gender emerged as a significant variable, with being female, compared to being male, being associated with higher levels of problematic social media use and lower levels of problematic video games use. Among the family climate dimensions, conflict was the only significant risk factor for both forms of problematic use. Expressiveness acted as a protective factor only in the case of video games, and no significant relationships were found in the case of family cohesion. Discussion and conclusions: The findings highlight the need to approach prevention from a gender perspective and through a systemic family-based educational and clinical approach focused on managing family conflict to prevent problematic use of technology.
Keywords:
Cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, problematic use, social media, video games.
Received date
30/06/2026
Accepted date
14/09/2026
Authors
Financing
This study is part of the Casandra Project of the Chair of Digital Divide and Good Use of ICT of the UMH, funded by the General Directorate of Innovation of the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Valencian Government of Spain. The authors are grateful for the financial support received.
