Prevalence, Risk, and Protective Factors of Internet Addiction Among Left-Behind Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
The internet addiction (IA) of left-behind children (LBC) has raised concern in China. However, the extent of LBC's susceptibility to IA remains a subject of debate, and a comprehensive understanding of the associated risk and protective factors is lacking. This systematic review and meta-analysis a...
| Published in: | International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 1137 - 1159 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Literature Review |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
Apr2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193493002&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193493002 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 15571874 46AW jtl: International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction issn: 15571874 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 24 iid: 2 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 193493002 10.1007/s11469-025-01445-x ppf: 1137 ppct: 22 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1.6MB tig: atl: Prevalence, Risk, and Protective Factors of Internet Addiction Among Left-Behind Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. aug: au: Zhang, Yu Sun, Weiyi Chao, Miao Gu, Lijia Yang, Haibo affil: https://ror.org/05x2td559 Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, 300387, Tianjin, China https://ror.org/05x2td559 Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, 300387, Tianjin, China Tianjin Key Laboratory of Student Mental Health and Intelligence Assessment, 300387, Tianjin, China https://ror.org/0435tej63 Department of Psychology, Shaoxing University, 321000, Shaoxing, China su: China Internet addiction Disease risk factors Rural children Protective factors Disease prevalence Evidence synthesis sug: subj: Internet addiction Disease risk factors Rural children Protective factors China Disease prevalence Evidence synthesis keyword: Internet Addiction Left-Behind Children Medical and Health Sciences Public Health and Health Services Meta-Analysis Protective Factor Risk Factor Internet Addiction Left-Behind Children Medical and Health Sciences Public Health and Health Services Meta-Analysis Protective Factor Risk Factor ab: The internet addiction (IA) of left-behind children (LBC) has raised concern in China. However, the extent of LBC's susceptibility to IA remains a subject of debate, and a comprehensive understanding of the associated risk and protective factors is lacking. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to summarize and synthesize the prevalence, risk, and protective factors of IA among LBC. A thorough search was conducted across multiple databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, PsycINFO, ProQuest, Scopus, the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang, and VIP, for eligible studies published before April 2024. The analysis included 38 studies on IA among LBC, comprising a total sample of 38,410 participants. The findings indicate that the prevalence of IA was 15%, with 1.37 times increase in IA risk compared to non-LBC. Maladaptive cognitions (r = 0.47, p < 0.01) and negative interpersonal relationships (r = 0.49, p < 0.01) identified as the strongest personal and social risk factors. Conversely, positive emotions/mood (r = -0.33, p < 0.01) and positive interpersonal relationships (r = -0.16, p < 0.01) were identified as the most significant personal and social protective factors. It is essential to develop targeted prevention and intervention strategies based on risk and protective factors to effectively address IA among LBC. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Literature Review src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|