What question did this study set out to answer?

This study aims to explore the impact of parental expectation stress and regulatory focus on Internet gaming disorder symptoms in adolescents, emphasizing gender differences.

May 18, 2026Open Access

The roles of parental expectation stress and regulatory focus in internet gaming disorder through a gender lens: the potential emotion regulation/coping mechanisms in adolescents

YXYang XChinese University of Hong Kong XLXiaoyi LiHong Kong Baptist University XZXiaoyu ZhuangHong Kong Baptist University

Key Points

This study aims to explore the impact of parental expectation stress and regulatory focus on Internet gaming disorder symptoms in adolescents, emphasizing gender differences.
Sample of 998 Chinese senior secondary students completed structured questionnaires.
A multiple-group structural equation modeling analysis was conducted to examine the mediational model.
Focus on regulatory mechanisms and emotion regulation/coping strategies across genders.
For boys, IGD symptoms were primarily explained by regulatory focus metrics (β prevention focus = 0.044, 95%CI = [0.021, 0.076]).
For girls, IGD symptoms were more influenced by emotion regulation behaviors such as rumination (β rumination = 0.015, 95%CI = [0.004, 0.028]).
Direct and indirect associations between parental academic expectation stress and IGD were found for both genders.

Abstract

Abstract This study represents the novel effort to apply regulatory focus theory within the context of Internet gaming disorder (IGD), incorporating the often-neglected external environmental factor of parental expectation stress and the internal psychological mechanisms of emotion regulation/coping. A sample of 998 Chinese senior secondary students completed a battery of structured questionnaires. To scrutinize a sequential mediational model—from parental expectation stress through regulatory focus to IGD—we conducted a multiple-group structural equation modeling analysis, elucidating the distinct emotion regulation/coping mechanisms operating in male and female students. Results revealed an intriguing gender difference in the proposed regulatory focus and emotion regulation/coping model. We found that IGD symptoms in boys were primarily explained by regulatory focus systems (β prevention focus = 0.044, 95%CI = 0.021, 0.076, mediation proportion = 35.4%; β promotion focus = -0.018, 95%CI = -0.035, -0.008, mediation proportion = 14.5%), whereas IGD symptoms in girls were primarily explained by emotion regulation/coping systems (β rumination = 0.015, 95%CI = 0.004, 0.028, mediation proportion = 13.3%; β blaming others = 0.015, 95%CI = 0.001, 0.018, mediation proportion = 13.3%). For both genders, parental academic expectation stress was associated with IGD directly and indirectly via prevention focus and rumination (β boys = 0.005, 95%CI = 0.002, 0.011, mediation proportion = 4.0%; β girls = 0.007, 95%CI = 0.002, 0.013; mediation proportion = 6.2%). Our findings suggest that boys’ problematic gaming behaviors might be more influenced by the motivational system (i.e., regulatory focus), whereas girls are more influenced by maladaptive emotion regulation/coping mechanisms. These insights enhance the understanding of how environmental, motivational, and emotion regulation/coping systems synergistically impact on IGD, informing clinical implications for the prevention and treatment of adolescent IGD.

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