Adolescents' excessive electronic device use is associated with psychological problems. However, it is unknown which psychological symptom, including emotional symptoms and sleep difficulty, correlates with excessive electronic device use most strongly. Besides, according to the social displacement theory, parent-adolescent communication might mediate the relationship between excessive electronic device use and psychological symptoms. Using the Czech national survey Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) data in the years 2006 (n = 4782) and 2014 (n = 5082), we used network analysis to explore the relationship between psychological symptoms and excessive electronic device use. In addition, we conducted a mediation analysis to examine the role of parent-adolescent communication. The results revealed that excessive electronic device use correlated most strongly with adolescents' irritability or bad temper, and this conclusion was stable in 2006 and 2014. In 2014, parent-adolescent communication mediated the relationship between adolescents' excessive electronic device use and their psychological symptoms. The findings suggest that as the internet industry grows, it is essential to improve parent-adolescent communication quality to prevent adolescents' psychological problems caused by excessive electronic device use.

Department of Educational Studies Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University Suzhou 215123 China

Department of Psychology Faculty of Social Studies Masaryk University 602 00 Brno Czech Republic

Institute for Research of Children Youth and Family Faculty of Social Studies Masaryk University 602 00 Brno Czech Republic

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