Parental phubbing and adolescents’ life satisfaction: a moderated mediation model of self-esteem and perceived social support

Life satisfaction is considered a hallmark of mental health in adolescence. However, the relationship between parental phubbing and life satisfaction and the internal mechanism has rarely been studied. Therefore, our objective was to examine the relationship between parental phubbing and life satisfaction and investigate the mediating effect of self-esteem and the moderating effect of perceived social support. Two thousand two hundred eighty-six junior high school students completed questionnaires on parental phubbing, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and perceived social support. The findings revealed a significant and negative correlation between parental phubbing and adolescents' life satisfaction. Moreover, the relationship between parental phubbing and life satisfaction was partially mediated by self-esteem. Perceived social support moderated the relationship between parental phubbing and self-esteem only. Specifically, for adolescents with low perceived social support, parental phubbing significantly predicted adolescents' self-esteem. This association became nonsignificant for adolescents with a high level of perceived social support. These findings indicate that intervening with parental phubbing is a promising way to improve adolescents' life satisfaction and promoting adolescents' self-esteem is an effective approach to improve their life satisfaction.