The relationship between parenting styles and adolescent problematic Internet use: A three-level meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Problematic Internet use (PIU) has become a global public health problem. It has been suggested that parenting style is associated with adolescent PIU. However, the evidence in favor of this view is mixed. Based on the PRISMA method, the present study employed three-level meta-analysis approach to investigate the relationship between these two variables and further explore potential moderators. METHODS: After a systematic search for published articles, 35 studies were included, reporting 171 effect sizes (N = 40,587). RESULTS: The results showed that positive parenting styles were significantly negatively related to PIU. This association was moderated by gender, age, publication year, and measurements of PIU, but was not by culture and measurements of parenting styles. Negative parenting styles were significantly positively related to PIU, which was moderated by publication year, culture, and sub-types of negative parenting, but not by gender, age, and measurements of both parenting styles and PIU. In addition, the correlation of PIU with negative parenting styles was stronger than that with positive parenting styles. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The present results demonstrated that parenting styles, especially punitive parenting styles, should be attached to more important when treating adolescent PIU.