Parents’ Phubbing and Chinese Young Children’s Problematic Screen Use: the Moderating Role of Parents’ Supportive Attitudes Toward Child Screen Use

Research on the relationship between parents’ phubbing and child problematic screen use (PSU) has predominantly focused on adolescents and tends to consider parents’ phubbing as a single construct, overlooking the potentially differentiated roles of mothers’ and fathers’ phubbing. To address these gaps, this study examined the associations between fathers’ and mothers’ phubbing and child PSU, and the moderating role of father and mothers’ supportive attitude toward child screen use in such associations. A representative sample of 3,290 parents with young children (Mage = 5.3 years old, SD = 1.2) participated in this study. The results indicated that both mothers’ and fathers’ phubbing were positively related to child PSU. Moreover, the relationship between mothers’ phubbing and child PSU was weaker at high levels as compared to low levels of mothers’ supportive attitude toward child screen use. Similarly, the pathway from fathers’ phubbing and child PSU was weaker at high levels as compared to low levels of fathers’ supportive attitude toward child screen use. No crossover effects involving mothers’ and fathers’ attitude were observed. The findings provide support for the important role of parents’ phubbing in relation to child PSU within the family context.