Rules at home, rules online: Parental mediation and adolescents’ orientation toward social media community guidelines in the United States

As digital platforms increasingly shape adolescents’ lives, safeguarding youth from online risks requires alignment between parenting practices and platform governance. This study examines how parental mediation strategies, specifically the interplay between restrictive rules and autonomy-supportive communication, relate to adolescents’ understanding of social media guidelines and their willingness to report harmful content. Using a nationally diverse sample of U.S. adolescents (ages 13–17), latent interaction analysis revealed that parental restrictiveness paired with autonomy-supportive communication was associated with greater awareness, understanding of community guidelines and more proactive reporting of violations. Conversely, highly restrictive parenting without autonomy-supportive communication showed no such benefits, suggesting that rules imposed without explanation at home may fail to translate to conscientious online behavior. These findings underscore the importance of how parents communicate rules, not just whether rules exist. By integrating autonomy-supportive communication with structured rules, parents and platforms can foster adolescents’ capacity to navigate digital spaces responsibly, transforming them from passive users into active participants in maintaining online safety. Prior State of Knowledge: Parental media rules and social media guidelines are each linked to adolescents’ digital engagement. However, prior research has examined these influences separately, leaving open whether home-based rule socialization relates to adolescents’ attitudes and behaviors on social platforms. Novel Contributions: This study introduces the Restrictiveness-Counteraction Framework, showing that parental restriction positively relates to adolescents’ orientation toward social media platform guidelines only when paired with autonomy-supportive communication. Adolescents are more informed and engaged with these guidelines when rules support their independence. Practical Implications: Findings guide parents (primary audience), educators, and platforms in supporting teens’ responsible digital behavior. For parents, pairing clear rules with rationale-based dialogue may foster respect for online norms. Educators and platforms can reinforce this through youth-friendly, explanation-based guideline education.