Parental Phubbing and Children’s Social Withdrawal and Aggression: A Moderated Mediation Model of Parenting Behaviors and Parents’ Gender

The present study sought to examine whether parental phubbing was significantly related to children's social withdrawal and aggression, and determine whether positive and negative parenting behaviors mediated this association. We further examined whether parents' gender moderated the direct and indirect relationships between parental phubbing and children's social withdrawal and aggression. The participants included 465 Chinese fathers and mothers from different families, and each father or mother had one child from preschool and early school aged 4-10 years. They completed the measures regarding their experience with parental phubbing, positive and negative parenting behaviors, and children's social withdrawal and aggression. Results showed that parental phubbing was positively related to children's social withdrawal and aggression. Positive and negative parenting behaviors significantly mediated the associations between parental phubbing and children's social withdrawal and aggression. Furthermore, parents' gender moderated the relationships between parental phubbing and children's social withdrawal and aggression. Specifically, in the mediating model of positive parenting behavior, the pathways from parental phubbing to children's social withdrawal and parental phubbing to children's aggression were significantly different. In the mediating model of negative behavior, the pathway from negative parenting behavior to children's social withdrawal was significantly different.