Parental Phubbing UK: Effects On The Parent-Child Relationship Of 3–6-Year-Old Children

Abstract

Research has identified that parents nowadays are spending a significant amount of time on technological devices (Mackay & Letourneau, 2022). The parent-child relationship (PCR) is currently disrupted by the modern phenomena parental phubbing (PP) which comprises of parents’ phone use in the presence of their child (Zhang & Wang, 2021). To date studies primarily focus on PP of the adolescent population outside of the United Kingdom (UK). Therefore, this quantitative paper reports how UK parents’ phone use around 3–6-year old children impact the parent-child relationship (PCR). As parental self-efficacy (PSE) is positively associated to the PCR (Chen & Nanakida, 2023) it was added to this study as a moderator to potentially buffer the effect of PP. The sample consisted of 53 participant parents 41(77.4%) females and 12 (22.6%) males. The participants’ age range was between 21 to 51 years, with the average age being 33.57 years (SD = 6.54). A regression analysis was used, and results indicated that although PP impacted the PCR, parents’ that displayed a higher PSOCS Scores, showed reduction in PCR conflict. As hypothesised the parents who were confident in their own parenting ability reflected a decrease in the negative impact that PP has on the relationship held with their child. The findings of the present study showed that although PP significantly impacts the PCR in a negative way, the PSE has the ability to significantly decrease PCR conflict levels and predict Closeness in the PCR.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English