Dose-Response Association Between Parental Gaming Time and Internet Gaming Disorder of Adolescents and Parents: A...

Parental gaming has become increasingly common, yet its dose-response relationship with parental and adolescent Internet gaming disorder (IGD) remains unclear.

A one-year, two-wave longitudinal study was conducted among parent-child dyads in Hong Kong. Adolescents completed anonymous questionnaires in classrooms, and parents completed online surveys. Generalized additive models (R version 4.1.3) were used to assess non-linear associations between parental gaming time and parental IGD symptoms/adolescent IGD, with the nadir defined as a "minimum-risk threshold". When no non-zero "minimum-risk threshold" was identified, parental gaming time was categorized into three groups (ie, non-gamers, below and over the selected cutoff) stepwise starting from the available smallest non-zero value (0.5 hours/day (h/d)). Mixed regression models were used to identify a "low-risk gaming level" where gaming above the cutoff showed a significantly higher risk than both lower categories. Gender-specific subgroup analyses were conducted.

A total of 712 parent-child dyads (50.4% girls; 80.8% mothers) were included (follow-up rate: 55.8%). Parental gaming time showed a monotonic positive association with parental IGD symptoms and an inverted U-shaped association with wide CIs at parental gaming times above 4 h/d with adolescent IGD, without showing a non-zero "minimum-risk threshold". Compared with non-gamers and gaming for 0.5 h/d, parents gaming exceeding 0.5 h/d was associated with higher parental IGD symptoms (>0.5 h/d vs non-gamers: b (95% CI) = 2.409 (2.280, 2.538); >0.5 h/d vs 0.5 h/d: 1.787 (1.603, 1.972)) and adolescent IGD (OR (95% CI)=11.124 (6.658, 18.584); 5.119 (2.684, 9.765)). Similar findings were observed in fathers, mothers, boys and girls.

While no non-zero "minimum-risk threshold" was identified, limiting gaming to 0.5 h/d or less may be considered a pragmatic "low-risk gaming level" for parents. It preserves parents' enjoyment of gaming while maintaining a relatively low IGD risk across two generations. It is worth noting that the observed findings may primarily reflect female caregivers' gaming behaviors and may not be generalizable to male caregivers.