Youth electronic media use and family conflict: Bidirectional associations across early adolescence.

The present study examined the longitudinal, bidirectional associations between early adolescents' electronic media use and family conflict across 3 years using data from the ABCD study (T1; N = 11,787). Findings indicated that more overall electronic media use was related to later increases in family conflict, whereas the reverse association was not supported. Further analyses examined associations by unique types of electronic media. Social electronic media use at T1 in girls was related to less family conflict at T2, yet more family conflict at later timepoints. These findings suggest that more overall electronic media use promotes later conflict throughout early adolescence and that girls' use of social types of media may be especially disruptive in families as they progress through early adolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).