Parental phubbing accelerates depression in late childhood and adolescence:A two-path model

Phubbing is a social exclusion behavior related to mobile phone use. It undermines interpersonal relationships and mental health. This study aimed to test the connections between parental phubbing and depression in late childhood and adolescence, as well as the mediating roles of parental warmth, parental rejection, and relatedness need satisfaction.

We conducted two studies. Study 1 was a cross-sectional study of 530 Chinese students (268 boys and 262 girls, M_age = 13.15 ± 0.64 years) who completed self-report questionnaires. We conducted structural modeling to test the relationship between parental phubbing and depression. Study 2 used a short longitudinal design to validate the results of Study 1 and test the mediating roles of parental warmth, parental rejection, and relatedness need satisfaction. In Study 2, we recruited 293 Chinese students (151 boys, 141 girls, and one participant with no reported gender information, M_age = 12.87 ± 0.74 years) to complete the questionnaires and applied structural equation modeling to analyze the data.

Two sequential mediation effects were found. The first was parental phubbing → parental warmth → relatedness need satisfaction → depression (protection-reduced effect). The second was parental phubbing → parental rejection → relatedness need satisfaction → depression (risk-increased effect). Gender differences were non-significant.

The study revealed that parental phubbing was associated with students' depression in late childhood and adolescence through two paths. The present study highlights the need to establish family norms regulating mobile phone use to reduce phubbing.