Impact of Virtual Involvements on Family Distance:The Mediating Role of Communication Quality among Bangladeshi Youth

Abstract

Purpose: Virtual involvement connects youth to the world. However, does this involvement push them apart from their families or bring them closer? This study investigates the effect of virtual involvement on family relationships between the Bangladeshi youth aged 15-24 years and their family members. It mainly highlights communication quality as the main factor that may decide the outcome.

Methodology: In this study, a quantitative approach was employed to examine the impact of social digitalization, virtual games, and virtual relations on communication quality and family distance. A structured questionnaire based on a 5-point Likert scale was circulated to 390 respondents for the study. Moreover, using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4, the study analyzed reliability, validity, structural model conducted mediation analysis, and R² to assess the study’s robustness.

Findings: The findings support the view that virtual games and virtual relations have a stronger influence on the quality of communication and family distance, while social digitalization has a significant indirect effect on family distance through the quality of communication. Mediation analysis confirms that the quality of communication is an important mechanism by which virtual involvement is negatively associated with family detachment. High R² (0.741 for communication quality; 0.746 for family distance) indicates strong explanatory power of the model.

Originality/value: The present study offers new insights into youth-family relations in the new media era by showing that immediate interaction in the virtual realm undermines family solidarity more due to deteriorating communication quality among family members.

Practical implications: To offset the negative impact of digitalization, families, schools and policy makers should work together to foster moderation in digital use, promote offline activities, and facilitate communication.

Research limitations: This study focuses on the young generation of Bangladesh by using primary data, further research is recommended to adopt longitudinal and cross-cultural methods.