The association between parental phubbing and pathological digital use among children and adolescents: a meta-analysis of Chinese samples
Abstract
As a typical manifestation of parental emotional neglect, parental phubbing shows associations with pathological digital use among children and adolescents and is also adversely associated with their physical and mental wellbeing. Nevertheless, existing empirical studies have reached inconsistent conclusions regarding the association between them. Grounded in parental acceptance-rejection theory and compensatory Internet use theory, this study retrieved 50 eligible empirical studies from authoritative databases and adopted a random-effects model to perform a meta-analysis, accompanied by publication bias tests, heterogeneity tests, subgroup analyses, and meta-regression analyses. This study aimed to clarify the magnitude of the correlation between parental phubbing and pathological digital use among children and adolescents and to explore the sources of inconsistent research conclusions and the moderating mechanism of related variables. The results demonstrated a moderate, statistically significant positive association between parental phubbing and pathological digital use among children and adolescents (r = 0.308, 95% CI [0.280, 0.336]). The correlation between the two variables was significantly moderated by parental phubbing measures, pathological digital use measures, and behavioral subtypes of pathological digital use. In contrast, no significant moderating effects were detected for only-child status, the proportion of male children and adolescents, age groups, and…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Regulation of nucleolus assembly by non-coding RNA polymerase II transcripts
- For a Healthy Histone Code, a Little SUMO in the Tail Keeps the Acetyl Away
- Discovering a binary CTCF code with a little help from BORIS
- Article Commentary: Stabilizing the Code–-Methods to Preserve RNA Prove Their Worth
- Foreword to the Special Issue for the RINTC (The Implicit Seismic Risk of Code-Conforming Structures) Project
- Commentary: Promoting Health and Well-being in Pediatric Primary Care Settings: Using Health and Behavior Codes at Routine Well-child Visits
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.