Longitudinal associations between parental rejection, school engagement and gaming disorder symptoms among Chinese adolescents: Disentangling between- and within-person effects.

Gaming disorder is a prevalent behavioral disorder among adolescents, exerting a negative impact on their social development. Parental rejection has been suggested as a core risk factor for gaming disorder symptoms. However, longitudinal research on the direction of this association and the underlying psychological mechanisms remains limited, with most studies failing to disentangle between-person and within-person effects. To address this gap, this study conducted a three-wave longitudinal survey over one year with 1,987 adolescents (56.1% male, Mage = 12.32). Using the Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model, we examined the bidirectional relationship between parental rejection and gaming disorder symptoms, and the mediating role of school engagement. At the within-person level, parental rejection directly predicted gaming disorder symptoms, whereas gaming disorder symptoms indirectly predicted parental rejection through the mediating effect of school engagement. These findings not only enhance our understanding of the longitudinal relationships among parental rejection, school engagement, and gaming disorder symptoms, but also underscore the complex interplay between changes in family and school environments and the development of gaming disorder in adolescents.