Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Sep 24, 2021
Date Accepted: Aug 4, 2022
Parental factors associated with Internet Gaming Disorder: A longitudinal study among first-year high school students in Henan province, China
ABSTRACT
Background:
Parents play central roles in adolescents’ socialization, behavioral development, and health, including the development of Internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, longitudinal research on the parental predictors of adolescent IGD is limited.
Objective:
This study aimed to investigate the reciprocal associations between various parental factors and adolescent IGD using two-wave cross-lagged models.
Methods:
A sample of 1200 year-one high school students in central China completed baseline assessment in 2018 (Mean age: 15.6 years old; 52.8% male) and follow-up survey in 2019. IGD was measured by the 9-item DSM-5 IGD Symptoms checklist. Perceptions related to parental variables, including psychological control, parental abuse, parental support, and parent-child relationship, were also collected from the adolescents.
Results:
Of all the participants, 12.4% and 11.7% were classified as having IGD at baseline (T1) and follow-up (T2). All the four cross-lagged models fitted the data well (range for CFI: .91-.95; range for RMSEA: .07-.09). Parental support (β=-.06, p=.015) and parental abuse (β=.08, p=.002) at T1 predicted IGD symptoms at T2 while parental psychological control (β=.03, p=.254) and positive relationship with parents (β =-.05, p=.072) at T1 showed non-significant effect on IGD symptoms at T2, controlling for background variables. In addition, IGD symptoms at T1 did not predict parental factors in T2.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that parental factors may be significant predictors of adolescent IGD. Health interventions should consider involving parents to increase the effectiveness of treatment to prevent and reduce adolescent IGD.
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