An investigation of the relationship between digital addiction levels of preschool children and their parents' digital parenting skills

The aim of this study is to examine the predictive effects of parental digital game guidance strategies on the digital game addiction tendencies of preschool children. In today's digital age, children gain access to digital technologies at an early age, which can lead to various developmental impacts through increased engagement in digital games. In this context, the attitudes and strategies adopted by parents in guiding digital media use have become a significant factor influencing children's behavior patterns related to digital gaming. The study was conducted using a correlational survey model, which is one of the quantitative research designs. The sample consisted of 431 volunteer parents of preschool children aged 3–6 years, residing in the Andırın district of Kahramanmaraş, during the spring term of the 2023–2024 academic year. The participants were selected using convenience and criterion sampling techniques. Data were collected through the Sociodemographic Information Form, the Digital Game Addiction Propensity Scale (DGAPS), and the Digital Game Parental Guidance Strategies Scale (DPGSS). The DGAPS evaluates children's digital game addiction propensity in four subdimensions: Disconnection from Life, Conflict, Persistent Play, and Reflection into Life. The DPGSS assesses parental intervention styles in digital gaming through four subdimensions: Active Guidance, Digital-Oriented Guidance, Permissive Guidance, and Technical Guidance. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were used for data analysis. The results revealed that the Active Guidance strategy was significantly and negatively associated with children's digital game addiction tendencies, whereas the Digital-Oriented, Permissive, and Technical Guidance strategies were positively related. In the five regression models constructed with different dependent variables (total DGAPS score and its subdimensions), the explained variance ranged between 8.8% and 15.4%. Active Guidance (AG) emerged as the strongest negative predictor in most models, while Digital-Oriented Guidance (DOG) was the most powerful positive predictor in several instances. Assumption checks confirmed the normality, linearity, absence of multicollinearity, and lack of autocorrelation in the data set, validating the reliability of the regression models. These findings indicate that parental digital game guidance strategies play a significant role in shaping the digital game addiction tendencies of preschool-aged children. In conclusion, the nature of parental guidance in digital game usage during early childhood may either mitigate or facilitate the development of problematic gaming behaviors. The findings suggest that adopting more active, conscious, and structured guidance strategies may help reduce addiction tendencies in children. Based on this, it is recommended that digital media literacy programs targeting parents be expanded and that counseling services be enhanced to support families in managing children's screen behaviors more effectively.