Harsh parenting and problematic Internet use in Chinese adolescents: Child emotional dysregulation as mediator and child forgiveness as moderator

This study examined the mediating role of child emotional dysregulation in the association between harsh parenting and Chinese adolescent problematic Internet use (PIU) and the moderating role of child forgiveness on this indirect association. Eight hundred and twenty eight middle school students with their parents were recruited as voluntary participants. Parents were required to report on their spouses' harsh parenting. And students were asked to report on their emotional dysregulation, tendency to forgive and their level of PIU. The results demonstrated that beyond the direct impact of harsh parenting on adolescent PIU, harsh parenting also indirectly contributed to adolescent PIU via the mediator of adolescents' emotional dysregulation. More importantly, we found that child forgiveness moderated the indirect relation of harsh parenting to adolescent PIU via child emotional dysregulation, with harsh parenting indirectly impacting PIU for only those adolescents with low levels of forgiveness. These results add to the current theoretical basis for preventing or intervening in the negative impact of negative parenting on adolescent PIU by ameliorating parental disciplinary strategies and/or fostering adolescent forgiveness toward parents who unjustly hurt them.