Mental Health of Parents and Their Children: A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Parents' Negative Affect on Adolescents' Pathological Gaming

The relationship between parental affective disorders and digital addiction in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

This study aims to comprehensively evaluate the correlation between parental affective disorders and four common digital addiction in children and adolescents.

METHODS

The research was conducted in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL, and Web of Science. The meta-analysis included studies focusing on parental affective disorders and digital addiction to the Internet, smartphones, social media, and gaming among children and adolescents, using longitudinal, cohort, or cross-sectional study designs, and reporting correlation effect sizes or other data that could be converted to correlation r. Pooled Pearson's correlations were calculated using the random-effect model.

RESULTS

Nineteen studies were included (sample sizes ranged from 104 to 4,385), with ten on gaming addiction, four on smartphone addiction, three on Internet addiction, and two on social media addiction. The meta-analysis revealed a small but significant correlation (pooled r [95 %CI] = 0.15 [0.11-0.19]) between parental affective disorders and digital addiction in children and adolescents. This correlation was stronger in studies focusing on offspring's smartphone addiction (r [95 %CI] = 0.25 [0.17, 0.33]), and studies conducted in Asia (r [95 %CI] = 0.17 [0.12, 0.22]), and increased slightly from 0.09 to 0.10 to 0.15-0.16 by years in 2017 and 2024.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Parental affective disorders were positively correlated with offspring's digital addiction, particularly on smartphone addiction and in Asian families. Improving parental mental health as a complementary strategy of clinical treatments might be more effective in reducing digital addiction in offspring. Further research is needed to explore the potential underlying mechanisms to gain a deeper understanding.

Social intelligence and pathological gaming: a longitudinal study of the associations among negative emotions, social intelligence, aggression, and pathological gaming in adolescents

Introduction

Pathological gaming continues to be highlighted as one of the most critical issues concerning adolescents. Numerous studies have aimed to elucidate the relationships between adolescents' negative emotions (e.g., peer stress, anxiety, loneliness) and social factors (e.g., social skills and relationships) with pathological gaming. Despite the recognition of social intelligence as a crucial factor related to social factors in adolescents, there is a paucity of research examining pathological gaming and social intelligence through longitudinal analyses.

Method

This study focuses on exploring the factors that induce or inhibit pathological gaming among adolescents by analysing three-year longitudinal data from Korean adolescent gamers (N=968). Using a structural equation model, the study examines the relationships between adolescents' negative emotions (e.g., peer stress, anxiety, loneliness), social intelligence, and pathological gaming to elucidate their associations.

Results

The results indicate that negative emotions can potentially reduce levels of social intelligence and increase aggression. Increased aggression, in turn, appears to be associated with higher levels of pathological gaming. Social intelligence was found to impact pathological gaming potentially negatively and may exert a significantly stronger influence on aggression compared to negative emotions.

Discussion

The study's findings suggest that bolstering adolescents' social aptitude and addressing mental health concerns could serve as beneficial interventions in tackling issues associated with excessive media engagement among youth. These findings suggest that, within the context of adolescent pathological gaming, social intelligence could significantly affect aggression and emerge as a key variable that may lead to pathological gaming.