Research Article Protective and Risk Parenting Styles for Internet and Online Gambling Addiction Cristina Serna , 1 Joan García-Perales , 2 and Isabel Martínez 1 1 Department of Psychology, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain 2 Department of Methodology of the Behavioral Sciences, University of Valencia, Spain Correspondence should be addressed to Isabel Martínez; misabel.martinez@uclm.es Received 24 February 2023; Revised 18 May 2023; Accepted 21 June 2023; Published 11 July 2023 Academic Editor: Zheng Yan Copyright © 2023 Cristina Serna et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This study analyzes the relationship of the four parenting styles, authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful, with Internet addiction and online gambling addiction. Study sample was 512 adolescents aged between 16 and 21 years (63.9% females, M = 18:7, SD = 1:8). A 4 × 2 × 2 MANOVA was applied for the outcome variables of Internet addiction (loss of control, emotional need and dependence) and gambling (anticipation, desire, and relief) with parenting style (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful), sex (boy vs. girls), and age (16-18 years old vs. 19-21 years old) as independent variables. The results provide evidence of the relationship between parenting styles and technological addictions, showing that parenting characterized by the use of practices of involvement and acceptance (authoritative and indulgent parenting) can act as protective factors for Internet addiction and online gambling addiction. On the contrary, authoritarian parenting, characterized by the use of strictness and imposition practices, would act as a risk factor for Internet addiction and online gambling addiction. The protective and risk effects of parenting styles over adolescents’ technological addictions take place irrespective of their sex and age. 1. Introduction In recent decades, we have witnessed the information and communication technology revolution, which has produced great changes that have spread to all areas of life. This new reality has brought numerous scientific, intellectual, eco- nomic, and social advantages, increasing the quality of life and even democratizing knowledge [1, 2]. But this reality has also brought disadvantages, among others, the digital gap for economic, political, or generational reasons and the decrease in offline relationships, sedentary lifestyles, or cer- tain pathologies associated with the use and abuse of these technologies, such as cyberbullying or cyberaddictions [3–5]. The last two decades have seen exponential growth in global Internet use. According to Internet World Stats [6], the number of Internet users has grown from 361 million in 2000 to 5544 million in 2022, with 69% of the world’s population using the Internet. These data confirm that Inter- net use has become critical. In addition, the preventive mea- sures taken during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, forcing people to stay at home, drastically reduce social contact, and engage in multiple online educational and work activities, have led to an increase in Internet use in daily life, especially among the younger population [7, 8]. As Internet use increases, so does the number of Internet addicts. The ease of use of the Internet around the world, being a widely avail- able and affordable resource, can exacerbate health problems. Thus, the ease of access to Wi-Fi networks and the spread of smartphones have increased the likelihood of unlimited Internet use, also increasing the risk of addiction [9]. Consequently, compulsive use of the Internet and elec- tronic devices has become a global concern. In fact, between 1% and 4% of the world’s population has some significant impairment in their lives resulting from this phenomenon [10, 11]. Recent studies show that this problem especially affects the younger generations, influencing the way they live [12, 13]. The need for social interaction during adolescent identity development is closely related to Internet abuse Hindawi Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies Volume 2023, Article ID 6674541, 12 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/6674541