Consistent and Appropriate Parental Restrictions Mitigating Against Children's Compulsive Internet Use: A One-Year Longitudinal Study

The aim of this study was to examine internet use of primary school-aged children in association with child-parent relationship, parenting practices in general and in regard to the child’s internet use, as potential protective or risk factors for the development of child compulsive internet use (CIU). Participating in this study were 261 children (aged 8–11 years old) and one of their parents at the first measurement time, with 236 of these child-parent dyads participating at the second measurement time one year later. At both measurement times the children completed the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (Meerkerk et al. in Cyberpsychol Behav 12:1–6, 2009) and answered questions about the child-parent relationship, as well as parental restrictions on internet use. Parents completed items regarding parenting practices in general, and specific internet-related parenting practices. Correlational analysis showed that child CIU is positively associated with Inconsistent parenting, Forbidding internet access, and Technical Control of internet use. CIU was negatively associated with positive child-parent relationship and internet-related rules set by the parents. Regression analyses further suggested that the optimization of online opportunities and minimization of risks can be facilitated by positive child-parent relationships and consistent parenting practices, both general and internet-related, with appropriately applied internet use limitations.