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REGULAR ARTICLE
The Moderating Effects of Internet Parenting Styles
on the Relationship Between Internet Parenting Behavior,
Internet Expectancy, and Internet Addiction Tendency
Chien Chou
1
•Yuan-Hsuan Lee
2
Published online: 2 May 2017
De La Salle University 2017
Abstract This study investigated the moderating effect of
children’s perceived Internet parenting styles (IPS) on the
relationship among their perceived Internet parenting
behaviors (operationalized as warmth and control on
Internet use from their parents), Internet expectancy (IE),
and Internet addiction tendency (IAT). Participants were
3169 Taiwanese junior high school students ages 13–16.
Results exhibited a dominance of both authoritative and
authoritarian IPSs. Boys tended to perceive a permissive or
neglectful IPS from their parents, while girls tended to
perceive an authoritarian or authoritative IPS. IE and
control had a consistent positive direct relationship with
IAT across all IPS models. The hypothesized indirect effect
was significant for the authoritarian parenting model from
control to IAT and for the neglectful parenting model from
both warmth and control to IAT. The study result implied
that the quality of Internet parenting behaviors as demon-
strated by different IPSs may be related with changes in
students’ IE and IAT. Evidence from children’s amount of
Internet use, their gender, and parental education level
provided additional support on the study findings. The
study results would shed light on the role of family func-
tion on students’ Internet use and provide suggestions on
Internet parenting to reduce possible IAT.
Keywords Internet parenting behavior
Internet parenting style Internet expectancy
Internet addiction tendency Moderating effect
Gender differences
Introduction
The Internet has become the most widespread and versatile
technology in the world. Students of all ages rely on the
Internet to satisfy their various needs such as learning,
entertaining, socializing, and shopping (Lee and Wu 2013;
Wu 2015,2017; Wu and Peng 2016). However, the
increased needs and elevated expectations for Internet may
have exposed students to an unprecedented risk of Internet
addiction. Expectancy is a psychological construct that
influences human behavior. According to West and Hardy
(2005) ‘‘‘expectancies’ about the costs and benefits of an
addictive activity are assumed to contribute to excessive
use’’ (p. 48). Specifically, expectancy influences each
individual’s decision-making process to perform a behavior
(Goldman 2002). That is, when people expect they can
afford the cost in return of specific benefits, excessive use
may develop. Research on Internet addiction has found that
students reporting higher expectations on the usefulness of
the Internet showed higher tolerance and more severe
interpersonal problems due to Internet use (Tsai and Lin
2001). Moreover, the effect of Internet expectancy (IE) on
Internet addiction tendency (IAT) can be explained through
different mediating factors. For example, Lin et al. (2008)
revealed that students’ positive expectations that the
Internet would bring advantages and benefits to them may
contribute to Internet addiction through weakened self-ef-
ficacy to resist Internet use. Further, Lee et al. (2015) found
&Yuan-Hsuan Lee
yuanhsuanlee@mx.nthu.edu.tw
Chien Chou
cchou@mail.nctu.edu.tw
1
Institute of Education, National Chiao Tung University, 1001
University Road., Hsinchu City, Taiwan, ROC
2
Department of Education and Learning Technology, National
Tsing Hua University, 521 Nanda Road., Hsinchu City,
Taiwan, ROC
123
Asia-Pacific Edu Res (2017) 26(3–4):137–146
DOI 10.1007/s40299-017-0334-5
that the positive relationship between IE and IAT
strengthens as the expected outcomes for Internet were
rewarded through positive attitude and more engagement in
online gaming and online social interaction, the two most
popular Internet activities that satisfied adolescents’ needs
for achievement and friendship (Erikson 1968). More
recently, in a longitudinal survey of 623 college students in
Taiwan, researchers found students’ expectancy of Internet
for tension reduction (i.e., expectations that using the
Internet can help escape tension) fully mediated the effect
of borderline features at year 1 on the severity of Internet
addition at year 2 (Wu et al. 2016). Besides, students’
positive outcome expectancy of Internet gaming (IG), (e.g.,
IG makes me feel happy, feel a sense of achievement, and
help me make friends, etc.) mediated peer influences on
Internet gaming addiction (Wu et al. 2016). These studies
not only explored the mechanism between IE and IAT but
also reassured that the expectancy plays an important role
in the development of Internet addictive behavior. Lee
et al. (2015) suggested that challenges to student Internet
expectancies should be provided to avoid IAT. Neverthe-
less, questions may remain unsolved as to who and how to
provide adequate IE challenges.
According to the Organisation for Economic and Co-
operation Development (2015), on average, 93% of stu-
dents in OECD countries reported that they had access to
the Internet at home. Thus, family function may be related
with students’ IE and the formation and prevention of IAT.
Specifically, the parents’ role or quality of parent–child
relationship has been found to have a significant impact on
children’s Internet use (Appel et al. 2012; van Den Eijnden
et al. 2010). However, as family size has evolved to include
only 1 or 2 children at most among the wider Chinese
society,
1
parenting in the context of ‘‘only child’’ is greatly
challenged in resistance to Internet addiction. Chen et al.
(2015) revealed that children identified as Internet addicts
were more likely from only-child family (9.5%) than from
non-only-child family (8.1%). Specifically, parents’ high
expectations toward their children and low self-efficacy in
parenting their digital-native children may have shaped
these IATs. For example, more than 20% of parents
reported having limited confidence in helping their children
benefit from the Internet and 14% in protecting their chil-
dren from possible Internet threats; moreover, of the 1595
parents surveyed in Shanghai, China, the mean scores for
supervising and guiding children’s Internet use in terms of
access restriction were around the midpoint of 3 and below
3 for involvement and monitoring (Wong et al. 2015). In
addition, children with IAT experienced more negative
control (e.g., harsh punishment and ignoring unwanted
behavior) and lower positive support (e.g., teaching rules
and monitoring) from their parents than those without IAT
in Xi’an China (Li et al. 2014). The same finding was
verified in Chen et al. (2015) in Taiwan where the authors
showed that parents of Internet addicts admitted that they
had overprotected or neglected their children in Internet
use.
The above-mentioned studies documented the insuffi-
cient parental knowledge in Internet parenting. Improving
parenting behaviors associated with children’s Internet use
may come into effect on IAT and may inform how Internet
parenting behaviors and styles are associated with student
IE and IAT. Therefore, the study purposes are twofold:
first, we investigated how Internet parenting styles (IPS)
influence students’ IE, time spent on Internet, and IAT;
second, we examined the relationship among Internet
parenting behaviors, student IE, and IAT as well as the
moderating effect of IPSs on this relationship. In addition
to the two main study purposes, we also tested the asso-
ciation of student demographic variables with IPSs to
provide additional support for the study findings. Specifi-
cally, we examined how students’ gender and parental
education level were associated with IPSs. Findings of this
study may inform parents of different IPSs of the effective
Internet addiction intervention and prevention strategies.
Below we provided literature review on the relationship of
Internet parenting and IAT as well as our research
hypotheses and questions.
Internet Parenting and Internet Addiction
One theory of parenting can be dated to Baumrind
(1966,1971), who focused on the behavior of control to
conceptualize parents’ demandingness and strictness on
children. Later, Maccoby and Martin (1983) added parental
warmth as a second behavior to represent parental
responsiveness, care, and supportiveness. Four different
parenting styles can be derived based on the combinations
of low or high levels of parental warmth and control
(Baumrind 1978,1991; Maccoby and Martin 1983).
Authoritative parenting is characterized by both high levels
of warmth and control. Authoritarian parenting has high
level of control but low level of warmth. Permissive par-
enting is characterized by a low level of control but a
relatively high level of warmth. Finally, neglectful par-
enting has both low warmth and control.
Internet addiction can be defined as excessive Internet
use that results in impairment and malfunctioning in one’s
life, such as depression, loneliness, social isolation, suici-
dal intent, and aggression (Block 2008; Chou et al. 2005;
Jang et al. 2008). Previous research exhibited a direct
association between parenting styles and IAT (e.g., Eastin
1
Singapore, Macau, Taiwan, and Hong Kong were countries and
regions with the lowest fertility rates ranging from 0.82 to 1.19 in
2016 based on The World Factbook (2016).
138 C. Chou,Y.-H. Lee
123
et al. 2006; Floros and Siomos 2013; Rosen et al. 2008;
Valcke et al. 2010). Most studies focused on how parenting
styles in an everyday context influenced parental media-
tion, a term associated with parenting behavior on chil-
dren’s media use (Eastin et al. 2006; Mesch 2009), and
how this particular style was related with children’s actual
Internet use. For example, Eastin et al. (2006) found par-
enting styles affect the mediating strategies in children’s
Internet use. Authoritative parents tended to view and
interpret the online content with their children more often
than authoritarian and neglectful parents. In addition,
authoritative and authoritarian parents are more often to
restrict their child’s time spent on Internet and use tech-
nology to block undesired contents than neglectful parents.
In another study, Rosen et al. (2008) tested the relationship
of parenting styles with parents’ knowledge of children’s
activities on social network sites (SNS) and parents’ SNS
limit-setting. Results of the study were similar with Eastin
et al. (2006) wherein authoritative and authoritarian parents
are more likely to set limits for SNS and computer use than
neglectful and permissive parents. Moreover, authoritative
parents had the most understanding of their children’s SNS
profiles and their children had fewest risky SNS behaviors,
such as meeting their netfriends offline.
Other research focused on non-Internet-related parent-
ing behaviors with Internet addiction. For instance, inves-
tigating the characteristics of 204 Internet addicts and 100
non-addicts, Huang et al. (2010) found that Internet addicts
tended to perceive less emotional warmth, over-involve-
ment, more rejection, and more punishment (only from
mother) in their memories of upbringing. Nevertheless,
using correlational analysis, Leung and Lee (2012) found
that strictness is negatively associated with IAT in a sample
of 718 adolescents ages 9–19 in Hong Kong. The mixed
results of parenting behaviors on IAT may reflect the dis-
tinct qualities in different parenting styles.
Based on a survey of 533 parents in Belgium, Valcke
et al. (2010) confirmed the four hypothesized IPSs and
found an additional style called mixed IPS where the scores
for warmth and control were near the midpoint of the scale.
In addition to the above findings, they reported a domi-
nance of authoritative Internet parenting with the lowest
child Internet use, followed by authoritarian Internet par-
enting with the second lowest child Internet use, and per-
missive and laissez-faire (neglectful) Internet parenting
with the highest child Internet use in an ascending order.
Although Valcke et al. (2010) revealed significant rela-
tionship between parental behaviors (i.e., warmth/control)
and Internet use in regression analyses, the moderating
effect of IPS on this relationship as well as the role of IE
was not investigated. We held that investigating the rela-
tionship between Internet parenting behaviors and IAT
may not be sufficient to delve into the complexity of
parent–child interaction regarding Internet use, because
parenting styles differ not only in terms of the amount of a
specific parenting behavior but also the quality reflected in
each parenting style (Darling and Steinberg 1993). For
example, both authoritative and authoritarian parents are
high in demandingness (i.e., behavioral control such as
putting forward rules and limits), while authoritarian par-
ents are high in psychological control as well (Darling and
Steinberg 1993; Eastin et al. 2006). Therefore, besides
examining how each Internet parenting behavior influence
IE and IAT, we tested how different IPSs moderated the
hypothesized relationship in a holistic structural equation
model considering the natural complexity of related vari-
ables. Below we lay out our research hypotheses and
questions.
Research Hypotheses and Questions
Firstly, based on the literature, positive IE shows a con-
sistent correlation with IAT (Lee et al. 2015; Lin et al.
2008; Tsai and Lin 2001). Therefore, we posit that stu-
dents’ positive IE will predict higher IAT (H1) as shown in
Fig. 1. Second, as evidenced in Huang et al. (2010) and
Leung and Lee (2012), parenting behaviors will have a
direct relationship with IAT even though the direction of
association in the two studies was inconsistent. Hence, we
hypothesized that parenting behaviors predict IAT directly
(H2) but we did not specify a positive or negative direction.
Built on the first two hypotheses, we test the third
hypothesis that Internet parenting behaviors will have
indirect relationship with IAT via IE (H3).
In addition to testing how each Internet parenting
behavior is related with Internet expectancy and addiction,
we asked the following research questions.
1. How are perceived IPSs associated with adolescents’
amount of Internet use, IE, IAT, and demographic
information?
2. How will perceived IPSs moderate the relationship
among Internet parenting behaviors, IE, and IAT?
Method
Participants
Participants were 3169 Taiwanese junior high school stu-
dents (boys 49% and girls 51%) aged 13–16, selected from
a large-scale stratified sampling. The representative sample
was selected proportionally to the size of student enroll-
ment in four districts (i.e., north, south, midland, and
eastern/off-shore island) covering all 25 counties in Tai-
wan. After we had obtained passive consent from parents,
The Moderating Effects of Internet Parenting Styles on the Relationship Between Internet…139
123
students who provided written assent to participate in the
study answered a 30 min paper-and-pencil survey in the
classroom and returned their anonymous questionnaires in
sealed envelopes. All procedures were in accordance with
the ethical guidelines of American Psychological
Association.
Of the 4800 surveys sent out, 4200 were returned (return
rate =87.50%). Those who did not return the survey were
because they were absent at the designated session. We
followed rigorous criteria suggested by Meade and Craig
(2012) to rule out responses from careless responders. By
so doing, we increased the likelihood of obtaining valid
responses. The invalid surveys were eliminated if bogus
items were answered incorrectly, consecutive or all items
received the same responses, and items had consistent
extreme values. As a result of applying these criteria, 3169
surveys ended being valid (rate =75.45%) for use in this
study.
Instrument
The student questionnaire contained two sections. The first
part of the questionnaire gathered demographic information
and information about students’ Internet use, including their
average amount of time spent on the Internet for leisure and
for schoolwork during the weekdays and weekends. The
second part of the questionnaire gathered information about
students’ IAT, IE, and perceived IPSs. Below we provided a
brief introduction on the scales.
Internet Addiction Tendency (IAT)
Students rated their own IAT using the Chen Internet
Addiction Scale (CIAS; Chen et al. 2003). The CIAS was
measured on a 4-point Likert scale (1 =extreme dis-
agreement and 4 =extreme agreement) with 26 items to
assess five dimensions of Internet addiction disorder,
including compulsive use, withdrawal, tolerance, interper-
sonal relationships/health, and time management. The
internal consistencies of the CIAS ranged from 0.74 to
0.87. The sum score of CIAS was used in this study to
evaluate students Internet addiction tendency. A significant
gender difference in IAT was observed in the current
sample. Boys exhibited higher IAT than girls
(M
boy
=58.59, M
girl
=52.76, t=11.09, p\0.001 for
IAT).
Fig. 1 The hypothesized mediation model for each internet parenting style
140 C. Chou,Y.-H. Lee
123
Internet Parenting Behaviors
Students’ perceived Internet parenting behaviors were
measured by 11 items developed by the researchers. The
instrument showed good reliability and validity in the pre-
vious study (Chou et al. 2016). Responses were measured
on a 4-point Likert scale with 1 indicating extreme dis-
agreement and 4 extreme agreement. The Kaiser–Meyer–
Olkin test, KMO =0.87, and Bartlett’s test, v
2
=4939.90,
df =55, p\0.001, demonstrated the existence of latent
factors and the appropriateness of the sample with a total
variance explained of 45.91%. For the current study, results
of principal-axis factoring (PAF) showed a good validity of
the instrument based on a random sample of half of the
study participants with oblique rotation using SPSS v.20.
The PAF revealed two factors, a warmth factor character-
ized by parental care, guidance, and awareness of students’
Internet use (7 items), and a control factor characterized by
parental overprotection and control of students’ Internet use
(4 items). Sample questions for warmth included ‘‘my
parents know all my online behaviors,’’ and ‘‘my parents
discuss with me all the possible situations I may encounter
on the Internet.’’ Sample questions for control included ‘‘my
parents set up too many rules for my Internet use,’’ and ‘‘I
have conflicts with my parents due to disagreeing their rules
for Internet use.’’ The internal consistency for warmth and
control was 0.862 and 0.652, respectively. The factor scores
of warmth and control for the whole sample were saved to
further categorize parenting styles into authoritative,
authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful parenting using a
cutoff point of mean scores.
Internet Expectancy (IE)
We used four items to assess students’ expectations that
Internet will bring them benefits and advantages. Sample
questions included ‘‘the Internet can help me know more
about my own advantages’’ and ‘‘I think I can view things
from different perspectives with Internet.’’ These items
showed a good internal consistency and validity in pre-
dicting IAT (Lee et al. 2015). The internal consistency for
student Internet expectancies was 0.75 for the current
sample. Boys exhibited higher IE than girls (M
boy
=2.79,
M
girl
=2.65, t=5.95, p\0.001 for IE).
Data Analysis
To investigate the interrelationship among warmth, control,
IE, and IAT, we tested a hypothesized mediation model
(shown in Fig. 1) using structural equation modeling
(SEM). In this model, we employed the Sobel test (Sobel,
1982) to examine the mediating role of student IE between
Internet parenting behaviors and IAT. Additionally, we
tested whether IPSs would have an interaction effect on the
hypothesized relationship. That is, we tested whether the
indirect effect of warmth and control on IAT would be
moderated by different IPSs. The adequacy of the model
was evaluated with commonly used criteria, including
RMSEA less than 0.08, SRMR less than 0.08, and CFI
greater than 0.90 (Hu and Bentler 1998). Result of the pre-
liminary mediation model revealed a significant interaction
effect of IPSs on IE and IAT (bStyle!IE ¼0:177;t¼5:76;
p\0:001;bStyle!IA ¼0:254;t¼10:93;p\0:001) with an
adequate model fit (v
2
=78.99, df =14, p\0.001,
SRMR =0.017, RMSEA =0.039, CFI =0.982).
Regression diagnosis suggested no multicollinearity among
IE, warmth, control, and IPSs (Tolerance 0:325;VIF
3:075). Therefore, to provide meaningful interpretation of
the moderating effects, we conducted multiple-group com-
parison analysis using SEM to investigate how the hypoth-
esized relationship among the study variables differed by
IPSs. The variance explained, or R
2
, was computed to
quantify the effect sizes.
Result
Descriptive Analysis and ANOVAs
Table 1exhibits the frequencies and the v
2
tests between
IPSs and students’ gender and parental education. We found
a dominance of both authoritative parenting and authori-
tarian parenting, followed by neglectful parenting and per-
missive parenting. Due to cultural differences, the result was
different from Valcke et al’s finding (2010) where they
found a dominance of authoritative parenting in Belgium. In
addition, boys tended to perceive that their parents possessed
a permissive or neglectful parenting style, while girls tended
to perceive their parents possess an authoritative or author-
itarian parenting style. We found associations between IPSs
and parental education level. Students of authoritative par-
ents were overrepresented in parental education with a col-
lege, bachelor, or masters’ degree. Students of permissive
parents were overrepresented in all categories of parental
education above college level. Students of neglectful and
authoritarian parents were overrepresented in parental edu-
cation below a high school degree.
As shown in Table 2, scores of warmth were highest for
students of permissive parents, followed by students of
authoritative, neglectful, and authoritarian parents. Scores
of control were highest for students of authoritative par-
ents, followed by students of authoritarian, and permissive/
neglectful parents. Students of authoritative and authori-
tarian parents had similar degree of IE, which was signif-
icantly lower than students of permissive or neglectful
parents.
The Moderating Effects of Internet Parenting Styles on the Relationship Between Internet…141
123
Students of permissive parents had the most time spent
on Internet during the weekdays and weekend for study
purposes, while students in the other three groups did not
differ from one another. Students of authoritative parents
had the least time spent on Internet during the weekend for
leisure purposes, while students in the other three groups
did not differ from one another. Students of authoritative
parents also had the least time spent on the Internet during
the weekdays for leisure purposes. For Internet addiction,
scores were highest for both students of permissive and
neglectful parents, followed by students of authoritarian
parents, and students of authoritative parents.
Mediation Models for Different IPSs
The result of the individual IPS model is presented in
Fig. 1. All mediation models fit the data adequately (see
Table 3for fit indices). We reported the standardized path
Table 1 Frequencies for the Internet parenting styles stratified by student gender, parental education level, and annual family income
Parenting style Authoritative
(n=933,31.1%)
Permissive
(n=486,16.2%)
Authoritarian
(n=913,30.3%)
Neglectful
(n=672,22.4%)
v
2
p
Variable
Student gender 61.500 \0.001
Male 377 293 424 358
(452.4) (234.0) (441.3) (324.3)
Female 555 189 485 310
(479.6) (248.0) (467.7) (343.7)
Parental education 94.729 \0.001
Elementary school 16 21 49 31
(38.5) (17.7) (34.8) (26.0)
Junior high school 103 66 138 126
(142.6) (65.4) (128.8) (96.2)
Senior high school 358 147 357 240
(362.9) (166.5) (327.8) (244.8)
College 190 69 117 95
(155.1) (71.2) (140.1) (104.6)
Bachelor 120 55 80 57
(102.7) (47.1) (92.8) (69.3)
Master 50 18 18 14
(32.9) (15.1) (29.7) (22.2)
Doctorate 11 13 7 9
(13.2) (6.0) (11.9) (8.9)
Spousal education 68.530 \0.001
Elementary school 26 17 48 31
(40.7) (18.6) (35.7) (27.0)
Junior high school 106 60 139 111
(138.7) (63.4) (121.7) (92.2)
Senior high school 305 149 309 213
(325.5) (148.7) (285.5) (216.3)
College 171 63 95 76
(135.1) (61.7) (118.5) (89.8)
Bachelor 127 46 75 66
(104.7) (47.8) (91.9) (69.6)
Master 45 14 20 20
(33.0) (15.1) (29.0) (21.9)
Doctorate 10 12 7 8
(12.3) (5.6) (10.8) (8.2)
Note Numbers in the parentheses denote expected counts
142 C. Chou,Y.-H. Lee
123
coefficients so that the magnitudes of the coefficients are
readily compared. Significant paths were shown in solid
lines, while insignificant paths were shown in dashed lines.
As expected, IE positively predicted IAT for all four IPSs,
but the relationship among warmth/control, IE, and IAT
differed by IPSs. The hypothesized indirect relationship
was significant between IAT and control for the authori-
tarian model and between IAT and both control and
warmth for the neglectful model. The variance explained in
IAT was 22% for authoritative parenting model, 44% for
the permissive parenting model, 35% for the authoritarian
parenting model, and 34% for the neglectful parenting
model.
Discussion
Association of IPSs with IE, IAT, Amount
of Internet Use, and Student Demographic
Information
With respect to our first research question, we found IPSs
were associated with adolescents’ gender, amount of
Internet use, and parental education. Moreover, the study
findings on IPSs and gender differences also coincided with
findings on gender differences and IE and IAT. Consistent
with O
¨zgu
¨r(2016), boys tended to perceive a permissive or
neglectful parenting style from their parents, while girls
perceive an authoritative or authoritarian parenting style
from their parents. Besides, boys exhibited higher IE and
IAT than girls. Our result was in line with previous studies
that boys tended to have higher IAT than girls (Chen et al.
2015; He et al. 2016; Li et al. 2014; Wu et al. 2016). It is
likely that the differences in parenting boys and girls are
associated with the disparity in IAT. Therefore, we sug-
gested more attention and effective parenting behaviors
should be given for boys and students of permissive and
neglectful parents to prevent IAT. More detailed descrip-
tion and suggestions of effective Internet parenting were
provided in the following sessions.
The Moderating Role of IPSs on the Relationship
Among Internet Parenting Behaviors, IE, and IAT
With respect to our first research hypothesis, as expected,
positive expectancy predicted IAT in the four respective
IPS models. The result was consistent with previous studies
(Lee et al. 2015; Lin et al. 2008; Wu et al. 2016). There-
fore, our first research hypothesis was supported and pro-
vided external validity for the relationship between IE and
IAT. Moreover, Internet parenting behaviors predicted
IAT. Our result was in line with Huang et al. (2010). We
found that parental warmth was negatively associated with
IAT in the authoritative and authoritarian models, while
parental control positively predicted IAT in all tested
models. When parents provide guidance and show care and
awareness of students’ Internet use, students may have a
lower IAT. In contrast, strict limit-setting, overprotection,
and high behavioral control of students’ Internet use may
be associated with higher IAT. Additionally, we confirmed
that student-perceived parental warmth and control had a
direct and indirect relationship with IAT in the authori-
tarian and neglectful models. Therefore, our second and
third research hypotheses were partially supported due to
different IPSs. Warmth and control have distinct relation-
ships with IE. Imposing control and limit on students’
Internet use without providing further explanations and
reasons may be associated with more positive expectation
on Internet, which in turn is associated with higher IAT as
demonstrated in authoritarian and neglectful models. In
contrast, responding and supporting children’s Internet use
and providing guidance on proper Internet use can avoid
Table 2 Means, standard deviations, and ANOVAs of parenting styles on the measured variables
Parenting styles Authoritative
(n=933)
Permissive
(n=486)
Authoritarian
(n=913)
Neglectful
(n=672)
Fdf1, df2 Post Hoc test
Variables M SD M SD M SD M SD
Expectancy 2.63 0.675 2.85 0.65 2.65 0.62 2.83 0.61 24.00** 3, 2992 4 =2[1=3
Time spent on internet
Mon–Fri study 0.80 1.40 1.13 2.86 0.74 1.07 0.75 0.98 7.20** 3, 2855 2 [1=3=4
Mon–Fri leisure 1.81 3.70 3.13 7.18 2.39 3.16 2.69 3.71 10.89** 3, 2868 2 [3, 1, 4 [1
Weekend study 0.84 1.30 1.33 2.83 0.78 1.53 0.91 1.72 10.58** 3, 2859 2 [1=3=4
Weekend leisure 3.44 3.75 4.87 5.33 4.68 4.32 5.10 4.63 22.84** 3, 2885 2 =3=4[1
Addiction scores 48.92 12.74 61.84 16.51 55.28 13.29 61.02 14.29 138.24** 3, 2994 2 =4[3[1
Warmth 3.05 0.50 3.14 0.52 1.67 0.41 1.84 0.40 449.88** 3, 2997 2 [1[4[3
Control 2.89 0.41 2.50 0.49 2.66 0.34 2.46 0.56 153.07** 3, 2997 1 [3[2=4
** p\.01
The Moderating Effects of Internet Parenting Styles on the Relationship Between Internet…143
123
students’ positive expectations on the Internet, and subse-
quently lower students’ IAT. However, this negative
association was only statistically significant in the
neglectful parenting model. It is suggested that given
similarly low perceived warmth on Internet use as students
of authoritarian parents, neglectful parents can effectively
regulate their child’s Internet use by involving more and
providing more support on Internet use. For authoritarian
parents, the effect of warmth may come to effect when
parents impose less control and avoid conflicts on Internet
use with their children.
Comparisons of and Suggestions for Different IPSs
on IAT Prevention and Intervention
Both warmth and control predicted IAT directly for the
authoritative parenting model, but for the permissive par-
enting model only control significantly predicted IAT.
Although both groups are high in parental warmth, the
quality of the two parenting practices was different.
According to Baumrind (1991), authoritative parents have
a nurturing relationship with their child; therefore, they
may model the Internet use practices, provide support when
their child encounters problem on the Internet, set stan-
dards or rules that are reasonable for their child to follow,
and thus foster a self-confidence and self-control in their
child to use the Internet. Our ANOVA results on time spent
on the Internet can further support this argument. In par-
ticular, time spent on Internet for leisure purposes during
the weekend was the lowest for this group, which sug-
gested that students of authoritative parents may have
better self-regulation and self-assertion in the use of
Internet even during their leisure time. In contrast, a per-
missive parent ‘‘allows the child to regulate his own
activities as much as possible, avoids the exercise of con-
trol, and does not encourage him to obey externally defined
standards’’ (Baumrind 1966, p. 889). Permissive parents’
warmth practice can be regarded as ineffective. They may
seem to provide support for Internet use but in fact are lack
of involvement and fail to model Internet use. It is likely
that students of permissive parents were so much occupied
by their business or work that they can only be emotionally
supportive and responsive to students’ needs without
imposing demands on their Internet use. Besides emotional
supports, involvement and effective discussion on Internet
use are encouraged for this group of parents.
Students of authoritarian parents had an average IAT,
which is higher than students of authoritative parents but
lower than students of permissive parents and neglectful
parents. Authoritarian parents tended to use ‘‘punitive,
Table 3 Result of the Hypothesized Mediation Model for Different Internet Parenting Styles
Model fit statistics v
2
=163.95, df = 62, p\0.001
SRMR = 0.04
RMSEA = 0.05
CFI = 0.97
Model Authoritative Permissive Authoritarian Neglectful
bSE pbSE pbSE pbSE p
IE
B27 0.52 0.02 \0.001 0.55 0.03 \0.001 0.50 0.02 \0.001 0.54 0.02 \0.001
B54 0.63 0.02 \0.001 0.61 0.03 \0.001 0.59 0.02 \0.001 0.63 0.02 \0.001
B59 0.73 0.02 \0.001 0.74 0.02 \0.001 0.73 0.02 \0.001 0.72 0.02 \0.001
B62 0.73 0.02 \0.001 0.68 0.02 \0.001 0.71 0.02 \0.001 0.66 0.02 \0.001
Direct effect
Control?IAT 0.12 0.03 \0.001 0.08 0.04 0.030 0.06 0.03 \0.001 0.13 0.03 \0.001
Warmth?IAT -0.22 0.03 \0.001 0.04 0.04 0.322 -0.10 0.03 \0.001 0.05 0.04 0.138
IE?IA 0.38 0.03 \0.001 0.65 0.04 \0.001 0.58 0.03 \0.001 0.56 0.04 \0.001
Control?IE 0.06 0.04 0.120 0.03 0.05 0.570 0.08 0.04 0.041 0.11 0.04 0.017
Warmth?IE -0.07 0.04 0.083 0.05 0.05 0.309 0.05 0.04 0.164 -0.16 0.04 0.002
Indirect effect
Control?IE?IAT 0.02 0.01 0.123 0.02 0.03 0.570 0.05 0.02 0.042 0.06 0.03 0.019
Warmth?IE?IAT -0.03 0.01 0.086 0.04 0.03 0.310 0.03 0.02 0.167 -0.09 0.03 \0.001
R-square Est. SE pEst. SE pEst SE pEst. SE p
IAT 0.22 0.03 \0.001 0.44 0.05 \0.001 0.35 0.03 \0.001 0.34 0.04 \0.001
144 C. Chou,Y.-H. Lee
123
forceful measures to curb self-will at points where the
child’s actions or beliefs conflict with what she thinks is
right conduct’’ (Baumrind 1966, p. 890). Besides a positive
association between control and IAT, we observed a pos-
itive association between control and IE, which was in turn
associated with higher IAT. The finding suggested that
strict limit-setting and punitive actions on children’s
Internet use may not work toward the expected direction.
Instead, children may even expect highly of the Internet
and force their way into Internet use. We concluded that
parental control may directly or indirectly predict more
IAT; thus, imposing control and limits on Internet use may
not be an effective means. Intervention and prevention for
this group of students are best provided through more
involvement, responsiveness, and support for students’
Internet use.
Permissive parents and authoritarian parents have a
reversed profile in the level of warmth and control and may
seem quite different in their parenting practices. However,
in terms of the quality of controlling practices, both types
of parents made few maturity demands, had ineffective
communication, and were less nurturing and controlling
than authoritative parents (Baumrind 1966; Darling and
Steinberg 1993). Therefore, we suggested Internet parent-
ing programs such as effective child–parent communica-
tion or nurturing relationship can be provided to foster self-
regulation in children for permissive parents and authori-
tarian parents.
For students of neglectful parents, we observed statis-
tically significant indirect association between control/
warmth and IAT. Moreover, the direct association between
warmth and IAT was not significant, which suggested IE
fully mediated the relationship between warmth and IAT.
Students in this group had the highest IAT, which was not
statistically different from the permissive group. Although
students of neglectful parents were characterized by a low
perception of parental warmth and control in Internet use,
when the mediating role of IE showed up, the effects of
warmth and control on IAT were notable. A feeling of
control or overprotection on Internet use may be associated
with higher expectancy and subsequently related with
higher IAT. Nevertheless, if Internet parenting behavior is
provided through involvement and support on Internet use,
students’ Internet expectancy was greatly lessened and
possible degree of Internet addiction reduced.
Limitation and Conclusion
The overarching aim of this study was to examine the
mediating role of IE on the relationship between Internet
parenting behaviors and Internet addiction as well as the
moderating effect of IPSs on the above relationship.
Nevertheless, the results should be interpreted in light of
limitations. First, IPSs were rated through children’s self-
reported data. Future studies can be conducted with data
from both sources to validate the result. Second, parenting
behavior may be dependent upon cultural differences
(Chao 1994). The current sample focused only on Tai-
wanese adolescents; therefore, the result may not be the
same for adolescents and parents in other countries. Future
research can be conducted on culturally diverse samples.
Third, the current research design was cross-sectional,
which implied that the research result was correlational.
Future studies can employ a longitudinal design to further
test causality in this relationship.
Despite the limitations, this study has a number of the-
oretical and practical implications. At the theoretical level,
we verified the existence of four theoretical IPSs in guiding
children’s Internet use. At the practical level, we provided
suggestions for effective prevention and intervention of
IAT based on different IPSs. Providing both emotional
warmth and physical involvement for Internet use may be
readily helpful for students of authoritative, authoritarian,
and neglectful parents. For students of permissive parents,
more efforts can be invested to provide intervention pro-
gram such as effective communication and nurturance in
children’s Internet use.
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