Connections between Parental Phubbing and Electronic Media Use in Young Children: The Mediating Role of Parent–Child Conflict and Moderating Effect of Child Emotion Regulation

In this digital age, where parental attention is often diverted by digital engagement, the phenomenon of “parental phubbing,” defined as parents ignoring their children in favor of mobile devices, is scrutinized for its potential impact on child development. This study, utilizing questionnaire data...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBehavioral sciences Vol. 14; no. 2; p. 119
Main Authors Liu, Xiaocen, Geng, Shuliang, Lei, Tong, Cheng, Yan, Yu, Hui
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland MDPI AG 01.02.2024
Subjects
Analysis
Attachment
Behavior
Caregivers
Cellular telephones
Child development
Children & youth
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
electronic media
emotion regulation
Emotional regulation
Emotions
Families & family life
Learning
Mediation
Mobile devices
Pandemics
Parent and child
Parenting
Parents & parenting
parent–child conflict
phubbing
Technology Acceptance Model
Technology adoption
young children
China
phubbing
emotion regulation
young children
parent–child conflict
electronic media
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Summary:In this digital age, where parental attention is often diverted by digital engagement, the phenomenon of “parental phubbing,” defined as parents ignoring their children in favor of mobile devices, is scrutinized for its potential impact on child development. This study, utilizing questionnaire data from 612 parents and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with moderated mediation, examines the potential association between parental phubbing and young children’s electronic media use. The findings revealed a correlation between parental phubbing and increased electronic media use in children. Parent–child conflict, informed by instances of parental phubbing, was identified as a partial mediator in this relation. Notably, children’s emotion regulation emerged as a moderating factor, with adept regulation linked to reduced adverse effects of parental phubbing and improved relational harmony. These findings underscore the importance of parental awareness of their digital behaviors and the benefits of fostering robust parent–child relationships and supporting children’s emotional regulation to nurture well-adjusted “digital citizens” in the contemporary media landscape.
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ISSN:2076-328X
2076-328X
DOI:10.3390/bs14020119