Electrical engineering

Mathematics

Biology

Statistics

Psychiatry

Engineering

Developmental psychology

Philosophy

Paleontology

Psychology

Psychological intervention

Self-esteem

Mobile phone

Phone

Context (archaeology)

Computer science

Interrupt

Linguistics

Structural equation modeling

Transmission (telecommunications)

Telecommunications

Social psychology

Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking

An increasing number of mobile phone users check their phones at any time and place, even during in-person interactions. Such behaviors that interrupt social interactions have been described as phubbing. The present study focused on phubbing behaviors within the context of parent–child households and aimed to examine the associations among parents' phubbing, the parent–child relationship, children's self-esteem, and problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) by adolescents. The structural equation model results based on the data collected from 1,721 secondary students revealed that parents' phubbing was not only directly associated with children's PMPU but also indirectly associated with PMPU through the mediating roles of the parent–child relationship and children's self-esteem after gender and age were controlled. These findings suggest a possible underlying mechanism for the relationship between parents' phubbing and children's PMPU, and could thus inform interventions to prevent or decrease PMPU among adolescents. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Parents' Phubbing and Problematic Mobile Phone Use: The Roles of the Parent–Child Relationship and Children's Self-Esteem