Parental Psychological Control and Internet Gaming Disorder Tendency: A Moderated Mediation Model of Core Self-Evaluation and Intentional Self-Regulation

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) among junior high school students is an increasingly prominent mental health concern. It is important to look for influences behind internet gaming disorder tendency (IGDT) in the junior high school student population. The present study aimed to reveal the explanatory mechanisms underlying the association between parental psychological control (PPC) and internet gaming disorder tendency among junior high school students by testing the mediating role of core self-evaluation (CSE) and the moderating role of intentional self-regulation (ISR). Participants in present study were 735 Chinese junior high school students who completed offline self-report questionnaires on parental psychological control, core self-evaluation, intentional self-regulation, and Internet gaming disorder tendency. Analyses were conducted via mediation and moderated mediation. The results showed that: (1) Parental psychological control was positively related to junior high school students' Internet gaming disorder tendency. Core self-evaluation, and intentional self-regulation were negatively related to junior high school students' Internet gaming disorder tendency, respectively. (2) Core self-evaluation partially mediated the relationship between parental psychological control and junior high school students' Internet gaming disorder tendency. (3) Intentional self-regulation moderated the association between parental psychological control and Internet gaming disorder tendency, as well as the relationships between parental psychological control and core self-evaluation and core self-evaluation and Internet gaming disorder tendency in the mediated model. Based on these findings, we believe that there is a need to weaken parental psychological control, strengthen junior high school students' core self-evaluation and intentional self-regulation, and to recognize the important role of parents as well as their children's personal positive traits in the healthy development of junior high school students.