Associations of Depressive Symptoms and Parental Attachment with Problematic Internet Gaming in Korean Adolescents

Background: Problematic Internet gaming in adolescence has been linked to emotional difficulties and family-related factors. However, depressive symptoms and parental attachment have rarely been examined. This study examined whether depressive symptoms and parental attachment are independently associated with problematic Internet gaming among Korean adolescents.Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from Wave 10 (2025) of the Kids Cohort for Understanding Internet Addiction Risk Factors in Early Childhood (K-CURE). The final analytic sample included 267 adolescents. Problematic Internet gaming was assessed using the Internet Game Use-Elicited Symptom Screen (IGUESS), depressive symptoms using the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), and parental attachment using the parent attachment scale of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment–Revised (IPPA-R). Hierarchical negative binomial regression analyses were conducted, adjusting for sex and age.Results: Boys showed higher levels of problematic Internet gaming than girls. Problematic Internet gaming was positively correlated with depressive symptoms but negatively correlated with parental attachment. In the adjusted negative binomial regression model, higher depressive symptoms were associated with higher problematic Internet gaming, whereas higher parental attachment was associated with lower problematic Internet gaming. Both associations remained significant after adjustment.Conclusions: Depressive symptoms and parental attachment were independently associated with problematic Internet gaming among Korean adolescents. These findings suggest that assessment of problematic Internet gaming should consider not only gaming behavior itself, but also adolescents’ emotional distress and perceived attachment relationships with parents.