Parent-college students phubbing congruence and academic burnout: Exploring the moderating role of rest intolerance

Prior research has shown that phubbing, the act of ignoring others in favor of smartphone use, negatively influences students' academic functioning, particularly by increasing academic burnout. However, few studies have explored how the interplay between college students' own phubbing and their perception of parental phubbing within families shapes their academic burnout. Drawing on Family Systems Theory and Self-Regulated Learning Theory, the present study examined the effects of (in)congruence between college students' own phubbing and their perception of parental phubbing on academic burnout and tested the moderating role of rest intolerance, a self-regulatory experience or state of feeling reflecting discomfort during periods of rest. A sample of 434 college students (M_age = 22.17 years, SD = 1.91; 50.2% male) completed self-report measures. Polynomial regressions and response surface analyses revealed that higher congruence between college students' own phubbing and their perception of parental phubbing, especially when students perceived high phubbing from both themselves and their parents, was associated with increased academic burnout. Moreover, students reported even greater burnout when their own phubbing exceeded their perception of parental phubbing. Rest intolerance was positively related to burnout but did not moderate the effects of phubbing congruence. These findings highlight the intergenerational dynamics of college students' perceived technology-mediated behavior within the parent-college student relationships and its implications for students' self-regulatory capacity and academic well-being. The study underscores the importance of considering college students' perceived digital interaction patterns within close relationships when addressing specific psychological outcomes like academic burnout.