The associations between destructive parenting practice and addiction behaviors in internet and smartphone: A three-level meta-analysis

With the constantly growing popularity of internet and smartphone among adolescents and adults, there has been a concern that their excessive and habitual uses of both technologies have increased the risk for psychological and physical difficulties. Destructive parenting practice has been considered a critical factor linked with addiction behaviors in internet and smartphone, but existing findings have been still inconsistent. Based on the PRISMA method, the present study performed separate three-level meta–analyses for studies involving internet and smartphone addiction to obtain reliable estimates of effect size and examined a range of moderators (sample, publication, assessment and research design characteristics). Through the retrieval of articles that published before July 2022, a systematic search yielded 54 independent studies (participants: N = 329,776). Analyses revealed significantly positive associations between destructive parenting practice and addiction behaviors in both internet and smartphone, suggesting that destructive parenting practice was a risk factor for developing these addiction behaviors. In addition, the overall associations between destructive parenting practice and addiction behaviors in internet and smartphone were moderated by categories of destructive parenting practice. Finally, the moderating effects of participants' age and measurement of destructive parenting practice were observed in studies examining internet addiction. These results indicate that assessing destructive parenting practice is important in strengthening interventions that target internet and smartphone addiction among adolescents and adults.