Parenting styles and Internet addiction in Chinese primary school students: a moderated sequential mediation model of self-control, rejection sensitivity, and achievement motivation

TL;DR

This study explores how different parenting styles in China affect children's internet addiction through factors like self-control and rejection sensitivity, with achievement motivation playing a moderating role.

Contribution

The paper introduces a moderated sequential mediation model linking parenting styles to internet addiction in Chinese primary school children.

Findings

Authoritative parenting reduces internet addiction, while authoritarian parenting increases it.

Self-control and rejection sensitivity mediate the relationship between parenting styles and internet addiction.

Achievement motivation moderates the effects of self-control and rejection sensitivity on internet addiction.

Abstract

Internet addiction has reached an alarming level in Chinese children, yet the mechanisms linking parenting styles to Internet addiction remain unclear in the Chinese context characterized by intense academic competition and parental authority.

This study examined how Baumrind’s parenting styles—conceptualized as a culturally meaningful framework in Chinese contexts where high parental demands coexist with varying levels of warmth—influence children’s Internet addiction through sequential mediation of self-control and rejection sensitivity, with achievement motivation—particularly salient during primary school years when motivational orientations develop—as a moderator. Baumrind’s parenting style framework provides a culturally meaningful lens for examining parenting patterns in Chinese families, particularly in contexts characterized by high parental demands.

This cross-sectional study included a sample of 661 grade 4–6 children (Mage = 11.23 years) from central China who completed measures of parenting styles, self-control, rejection sensitivity, achievement motivation, and Internet addiction. The moderated sequential mediation model was tested using PROCESS Model 88.

Authoritative parenting negatively predicted Internet addiction, whereas authoritarian parenting positively predicted it. Permissive parenting showed no direct effect but significantly reduced self-control. Self-control acted as an independent mediator and enabled rejection sensitivity to serve as a subsequent mediator across all parenting styles. Achievement motivation moderated the self-control → Internet addiction path (enhancing protection) and the rejection sensitivity → Internet addiction path (buffering risk). The self-control mediation pathway showed opposite moderation patterns: positive for authoritative parenting but negative for authoritarian and permissive parenting.

These findings challenge traditional authoritarian practices and highlight the benefits of authoritative parenting that integrates guan (discipline) with warmth. They underscore the need for multi-level interventions combining parent education with programs fostering children’s self-control and achievement motivation in culturally grounded family contexts.

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