The Closed Loop Between Parental Upbringing and Online Game Addiction: A Narrative Study of Rural Children’s Growth in China

Abstract

Purpose

With the rapid development of information, digital networks, and artificial intelligence technologies, the new generation of children growing up with electronic products faces the dilemma of addiction to online games. There is a significant correlation between the addiction of rural children to online games and the lack of proper parental upbringing.

Patients and Methods

Based on purposive sampling, the research selected 41 sixth-grade rural children, 20 parents, and 14 teachers from three cities in Zhejiang Province, China. Three rounds of semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted.

Results

The research portrayed that the parental upbringing styles of rural children addicted to online games could be categorized into four types: conflict and chaos type, indulgent and permissive type, disciplinary neglect type, and coercive and brutal type. All four parenting styles were related to emotional involvement and value guidance.

Discussion

Both the parenting styles of rural parents and the children’s addiction to online games were difficult to self-update and change, and they mutually “affirmed” and even reinforced each other. Insufficient cultural capital was found in rural families, resulting in a closed loop between parental upbringing and online game addiction. Introducing professional expertise, increasing cultural capital, and promoting improvement in rural parenting styles are crucial.

Keywords:

• rural children
• online game addiction
• parental upbringing
• closed-loop effect
• narrative research

Ethics Statement

Informed consent included publication of anonymized responses was obtained from all participants involved in the study. Parents provided informed consent for their children to participate, with the children’s informed assent. All participants’ parents and teachers in charge of the class consent to the study. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the local University, College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University (Protocol Code: ZSRT2024060; Date of Approval: March 8th, 2024) and followed the Declaration of Helsinki.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Peisi Wu, Hong Lu, Qin Li, Yu Liao, Ying Zhou, Min Wang, Xueni Liu, and Xun Zhang for their assistance during the interview process!

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by research grant of General Scientific Research Project number Y202352049 from Department of Education of Zhejiang Province, China. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.