Effects of Parental Phubbing on Adolescent Problematic Social Network Use: The Mediating Roles of Mindfulness and Fear of Missing Out

Abstract

Smart phones are can interfere with parent-child interactions. Parental phubbing is related to negative parent-child relationships and increased child behavior problems. The present study unveiled the relationships between parental phubbing and problematic social network use. A sample of 1104 junior high school students were assessed using the parental phubbing scale, mindfulness scale, fear of missing out scale and problematic social network use scale. Results showed that parental phubbing positively predicted problematic social network use. In addition, mindfulness mediated the association between parental phubbing and problematic social network use. And mindfulness and fear of missing out functioned as sequential mediating role in the relationship between between parental phubbing and problematic social network use. It suggested that parental phubbing is a risk factor for problematic social network use that can negatively influence the psychological health of junior high school teenagers. Mindfulness training might attenuate the adverse influence of parental phubbing.