BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.12, No.2, 2022 1653 

 

 

 

 

Parental Phubbing and Young Children’ Problem 

Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model 

By Zu, J., Yang, W. Y., Zhou, T. F., Teng, W. Q., & Dan, F. 
Correspondence to: Fei Dan, Shenyang Normal University, China. E-mail: 

danfeier_2003@163.com  

HILD problem behaviors refer to those behaviors that are detrimental to 

physical and mental health of young children, including externalizing 

problems such as aggression, violence, disobedience to discipline, etc. and 

internalizing ones like anxiety, depression, withdrawal and so on. Problem 

behaviors impede children’s acquisition of knowledge and skills. The parent-

child relationship is considered a key factor affecting children’s growth, and 

the quality of parent-child interaction can predict child problem behaviors. 

The popularization of smart phones and other electronic devices today has 

led to a special human behavior dubbed “phubbing”, which is not beneficial 

to interpersonal communication and interaction. As a result, it is necessary to 

undertake a deep investigation into the negative impact of parental phubbing 

on child development. 

This study sampled 527 parents (189 fathers and 338 mothers) from14 

kindergartens in Liaoning, Shandong, and Shanxi Provinces, involving 127 

three-year-olds, 157 four-year-olds, and 148 five-year-olds, and 95 six-year-

olds. The Parental Phubbing Scale, Child-Parent Relationship Scale, Conners’ 

Child Problem Behavior Scale, and family social and economic status (SES) 

measurement were used as research tools; the common method bias test was 

adopted as the research method. 

The results of the study show that: the overall severity of phubbing 

among parents is high, while the severity of problem behavior in young chil-

dren is of lower-middle level; parental phubbing can not only directly predict 

child problem behaviors, but also indirectly predict them through the parent-

child relationship; young children’s age enhanced the predictive effect of pa-

rental phubbing on child problem behaviors, but weakened that of the parent-

child relationship on child problem behaviors; When the parent scores be-

tween 18.7 and 24.5 points in the Parental Phubbing Scale, the problem be-

havior of his or her child surpasses the alert threshold. 

To ensure the healthy growth of young children, parents should be 

alert to the cumulative risk effect of their phubbing and its threshold, reduce 

their cell phone dependence, and dedicate quality time to children. 

C 

mailto:danfeier_2003@163.com


 

Vol.12, No.2, 2022 1654 

 

Source: Studies in Preschool Education,2022; 2022(6):34-48