Parental mediation patterns and children's digital resilience in rural China: A latent profile analysis

Abstract Recent scholarship has highlighted a shift from risk avoidance to emphasizing children's active role in coping with online challenges. However, research on such processes remains scarce. This study adopted a person‐centered approach to examine how different parental mediation patterns influence rural children's digital resilience (DR), considering children's responses as key mechanisms shaping this relationship. Using survey data from 713 rural children in China, latent profile analysis identified four parental mediation patterns: communicative regulators , rule‐setters , tech‐monitors , and intensive engagers . Rule‐setters emerged as the most prevalent pattern, yet communicative regulators and intensive engagers were more effective in fostering children's DR. These patterns promoted resilience primarily through enhanced child‐initiated communication, whereas tech‐monitors heightened children's resistance, thereby undermining resilience. The findings clarify how parental strategies translate into children's DR in rural contexts and contribute to children's protection in the digital era.