Digital divide begins at home: Socioeconomic disparities in digital parenting practices in rural China

The rapid expansion of digital technologies has transformed children's lives, presenting new challenges for caregivers navigating the digital landscape. While research on digital parenting practices has focused on urban populations, this study investigates such practices among 969 caregiver-child dyads in rural China. Findings reveal limited access to diverse digital devices, with televisions and smartphones primarily used for entertainment. Latent profile analysis identified three distinct digital parenting styles: permissive (45.10%), guidance (25.39%), and supervision (29.52%). Results show that mothers with jobs tend to choose permissive style due to heavy caregiving and household burdens. Fathers with higher education level tend to adopt the stricter digital parenting style. Lower socioeconomic status was associated with permissive parenting, highlighting the influence of socioeconomic disparities on children's digital environments. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to bridge the digital divide and support rural families in fostering healthy digital literacy among children. • Rural Chinese children primarily use TVs/smartphones and lack computers/educational devices. • Identified 3 digital parenting styles: permissive, guidance, and supervision. • Mothers with jobs tend to choose permissive style due to heavy caregiving and household burdens. • Parents with older children tend to adopt supervision digital parenting style. • Fathers with higher education level tend to adopt the stricter digital parenting style.