Parental behaviors associated with internet gaming disorder in children and adolescents: A quantitative meta-analysis

The development of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is associated with different factors including parental practices. However, there is no clear evidence estimating the extent to which parent behaviours are associated with IGD. The present meta-analysis aims to quantify the magnitude of such association in youths under 18 years old. The 38 studies included (N = 47,362) are the result of a computer database search of PubMed, PsycINFO, Proquest, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane. In the analyses, we investigated the parental factors for IGD symptomatology that parents can potentially change. We tested age, gender, study quality, year of publication, and country level of technological development as moderators. The results show that there are both protective parental behaviours (i.e. those that give autonomy to young people, provide a positive environment, and age-appropriate monitoring) and harmful (i.e. aversiveness, overinvolvement, and withdrawal) parental behaviours associated with IGD symptoms with the stronger links accounted for withdrawal r of 0.280 [95%CI 0.168, 0.384] and overinvolvement, r of 0.186 [95% CI 0.086, 0.283]. In addition, age, gender, and technological country level do not moderate the association between warmth and IGD symptoms. The heterogeneity was high, with no significant changes in sensitivity and moderator analyses. There was no evidence of the risk of bias and small-study effects. Findings suggest that parental factors are related to IGD, which brings evidence in favor of including parents in clinical interventions.