Distracted parenting: Examining the implications of parental smartphone engagement on child wellbeing

Liu, Shujun, Sloan, Luke ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9458-9332, Baghal, Tarek Al and Jessop, Curtis 2026. Distracted parenting: Examining the implications of parental smartphone engagement on child wellbeing. Journal of Child and Family Studies 10.1007/s10826-026-03348-4

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB)

Abstract

The implications of parental smartphone use on children’s mental health and well-being have garnered significant scholarly attention recently. Nevertheless, existing studies predominantly focus on the immediate digital disruptions to ongoing parent-child interactions or often rely on self-reported data from either parents or children, with few studies combining perspectives from both sides. This study addresses this gap by merging datasets from both parents and children (aged 10 to 15) to investigate the influence of parental smartphone engagement on children’s (a) emotional disturbances, (b) conduct disorders, and (c) interpersonal relationship difficulties, in a broader context. The findings indicate that parental smartphone engagement is marginally associated with higher levels of emotional disturbances and conduct disorders in children. Notably, children’s own social media use significantly moderates these associations. The negative effects of parental smartphone use on child mental health outcomes are most pronounced among children who engage less frequently with social media, suggesting that digital networks may serve a compensatory, protective buffering role for adolescents experiencing high levels of parental smartphone engagement.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Schools > School of Social and Spatial Sciences Research Institutes & Centres > Centre For Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer)
Publisher:	Springer
ISSN:	1062-1024
Funders:	ESRC
Projects:	ES/S015175/1
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 September 2026
Date of Acceptance:	3 July 2026
Last Modified:	30 Sep 2026 11:02
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/189286

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item