Parent-Reported School Phone Policies: Prevalence, Components, and Violations

The purpose of this study was to assess parent perspectives on school smartphone policies including: (1) presence and components, (2) timing and enforcement, and (3) parent contact frequency and policy violation experiences.

This cross-sectional online survey recruited parents of youth ages 12-17 whose child attended in-person school and had a smartphone. We used quota-based sampling to recruit a national US sample from Qualtrics panels aligned with Census data. The survey assessed perspectives regarding current smartphone policy presence, components, timing, enforcement, and policy violations. Analyses included multivariate logistic regression analysis, applying stepwise variable selection.

Among our 2,502 parent respondents, 62.5% were female, 15.9% Hispanic, and 63.6% White. A total of 33.5% of their children had ongoing health conditions or disabilities. The majority of parents (98.7%) reported presence of a school smartphone policy; most commonly a medium restrictive policy limiting classroom access but allowing access outside class (46.2%). Many parents reported contacting their child via their smartphone daily (25%) or multiple times daily (38.5%). The likelihood of reporting that their child had violated school policy was significantly increased among children with an ongoing health condition or disability (Odds Ratio [OR] = 2.09, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.71-2.57), and among parents who contacted their child at school more frequently (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.51-2.32).

Findings illustrate that school smartphone policies are common. Parents contact their children frequently during the day, and policy violations may be connected to this behavior. Involving parents in the development and implementation of such policies is critical to policy success.