Abstract
Abundant empirical research has demonstrated the relationship between parenting style and adolescent problematic online game use (POGU), but the direction and underlying mechanism of this association remain unclear. Using a 1-year longitudinal design across three time points, the present study explored interrelations among parenting styles, depressive symptoms, and POGU from the theoretical perspective of the developmental cascade model and examined whether depressive symptoms mediate the relationship between parenting style and POGU. A sample of 1,041 children was recruited from two junior middle schools in China, of which 46.3% were boys. Results confirmed the cascade effects and showed that the reciprocal effect of parenting style, depressive symptoms, and POGU was significant, and parental control and POGU can predict each other via depressive symptoms. Knowledge regarding the direct and underlying mechanisms between parenting style, depressive symptoms, and POGU provides reference suggestions for the prevention and intervention of adolescent depressive symptoms and problematic online game use.
Highlights
Since 1969, with the unique characteristics of high speed and low cost, the Internet has made rapid development and penetrated into all aspects of contemporary social life
We got two hypotheses: [1] parenting style, depressive symptoms, and Problematic online game use (POGU) can significantly predict each other; and [2] depressive symptoms serve as a mediator in the path from parenting style to POGU, and the indirect effect of POGU on parenting style via depressive symptoms is significant
We examined the indirect effects of parental care, depressive symptoms, and POGU over 1 year, based on the full model
Summary
Since 1969, with the unique characteristics of high speed and low cost, the Internet has made rapid development and penetrated into all aspects of contemporary social life. As of December 2020, the number of Internet users in China has reached 989 million, while the number of online game users has reached 518 million, including more than 100 million young users [1]. As POGU has become a global public health issue, it has been included in the updated version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Disorders (DSM-5) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) and is attracting enormous attention from researchers [3, 4]. In November 2019, the National Press and Publication Administration issued a notice on preventing minors from indulging in online games, focusing on “resolutely curbing
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