Parental Influences on Pathological Symptoms of Video-Gaming Among Children and Adolescents: A Prospective Study

Although empirical studies and media reports have suggested that a number of children and adolescents play video-gaming excessively, resulting in pathological symptoms of video-gaming, longitudinal research on parental predictors of pathological symptoms of video-gaming is inadequate. By analyzing two-wave longitudinal data from 2,974 primary and secondary school students in Singapore, we examined the main effects of parent–child closeness and parental restriction of child video-gaming on children and adolescents’ pathological symptoms of video-gaming over time and five interaction terms, namely parental restriction of child video-gaming by parent–child closeness, parent–child closeness by gender, parental restriction of child video-gaming by gender, parent–child closeness by age, and parental restriction of child video-gaming by age. Analyses of random intercept models and hierarchical multiple regression models consistently revealed that higher parent–child closeness at Wave 1 had a significant main effect on the decreased number of pathological symptoms at Wave 2 while parental restriction of child video-gaming at Wave 1 had no main effect, and that the effect of parent–child closeness was significantly stronger for boys than for girls. These results imply that restrictive rules and regulations set by parents on the child’s video-gaming behaviors may not be an effective way of reducing the pathological symptoms of video-gaming. Instead, they highlight the importance of the parent–child bond and possible gender differences in this predictor in assessment and preventive measures for children and adolescents presenting pathological symptoms of video-gaming.