Family Bonds May Explain How Parental Phubbing Affects Preschool Children

A parent checking a phone while a young child is talking may seem like an ordinary part of modern family life; however, repeated moments of divided attention could have deeper consequences for a child's emotional and social development. A new study suggests that the issue is not simply the amount of time parents spend looking at screens, but how this behaviour changes emotional closeness in the family, and the security children feel in their relationship with their parents.

Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the original study, 'The relationship between parental phubbing and preschool children's social–emotional competence: a serial mediation model of family intimacy and parent–child attachment,' was conducted by Jun Liu, Jiani Rong, Longfeng Zhu and Yixin Zhang. The researchers examined how parental "phubbing"—paying attention to a phone or another electronic device instead of a person during an interaction- relates to social-emotional competence among preschool children.

Social-emotional competence covers abilities that become essential very early in life, including recognising and managing emotions, understanding other people's feelings, solving problems, following social rules and building healthy relationships. These abilities also help children adjust to school and are associated with later success and wellbeing.

Phone Distraction May Change More Than a Single Conversation

Parental phubbing occurs when parents become absorbed in electronic devices during family or parent-child interactions, diverting attention from their children and sometimes appearing distracted, emotionally unavailable or less responsive to a child's needs. The researchers approached this behaviour through social learning, attachment and family systems theories, looking beyond individual moments of phone use to understand what repeated distraction might mean for the family environment.

The study included 1,113 parents of children aged 3–6 years attending kindergartens in Fujian Province, China. Of the children represented in the survey, 576 were boys, and 537 were girls, while 78% of participating parents were mothers and 22% were fathers. Researchers assessed parental phubbing, family intimacy, parent-child attachment and children's social-emotional competence using established or adapted questionnaires.

The pattern was clear: greater parental phubbing was associated with lower social-emotional competence among preschool children. It was also linked with weaker family intimacy and poorer parent-child attachment, while children tended to show stronger social-emotional competence when family intimacy and attachment were stronger.

Parents provide everyday examples of how to communicate, respond to feelings and regulate emotions. When a parent's attention repeatedly shifts toward a device, children have fewer opportunities to observe these behaviours and participate in meaningful face-to-face exchanges. Eye contact, touch, body orientation, tone of voice and emotionally responsive conversation can all contribute to secure relationships, making frequent digital interruptions potentially important even when individual interruptions seem minor.

Family Intimacy Emerged as the Strongest Pathway

The researchers found that much of the association between parental phubbing and children's social-emotional competence could be explained through family relationships rather than through a direct statistical pathway alone.

Family intimacy emerged as the largest individual mediator. The pathway from parental phubbing to reduced family intimacy and then to poorer social-emotional competence represented 49.2% of the total effect reported in the mediation model. Parent-child attachment independently accounted for another 22.7%, while the sequential pathway connecting parental phubbing to family intimacy, then parent-child attachment and finally social-emotional competence represented 7.6%. Together, the indirect pathways accounted for 79.5% of the total association.

This finding shifts attention from the phone itself toward what may happen around it. When parents frequently turn toward their screens during interactions, children may receive less emotional support, communication and shared attention. Some may interpret this as being ignored or less important than the device, potentially weakening their sense of belonging and emotional security within the family.

Secure Parent-Child Attachment May Provide an Emotional Foundation

Family intimacy matters because a warm, cohesive household gives children a secure setting in which to express emotions, practise communication and learn socially appropriate behaviour. Families with stronger emotional bonds and supportive communication can encourage mutual understanding and prosocial development, while limited emotional expression and weaker communication may make social and emotional adjustment more difficult.

Parent-child attachment forms another part of the picture. Secure attachment depends heavily on sensitive, consistent responses from caregivers. Frequent phone distraction may interrupt these small but important exchanges, reducing responsiveness and making emotional communication less predictable. The study found that stronger family intimacy predicted stronger parent-child attachment, which in turn was associated with better social-emotional competence.

The Findings Point to Family Connection, Not Simply Screen Time

The study's most notable result appeared when family intimacy and parent-child attachment were entered into the statistical model. The previous direct relationship between parental phubbing and children's social-emotional competence became statistically nonsignificant. The researchers interpret this as evidence that family relational processes may be central to understanding how parental phubbing is associated with children's development.

The findings suggest that reducing disruptive phone use during parent-child interactions could be useful alongside efforts to strengthen the wider emotional environment at home. Creating opportunities for attentive conversation, shared activities, emotional responsiveness and meaningful interaction may help preserve family intimacy and secure attachment, both of which provide important foundations for children's emotional regulation and social adjustment.

The researchers also caution against reading the results as proof that parental phone use causes poorer social-emotional development. The study was cross-sectional, meaning all variables were examined at one period in time, so the direction of the relationship cannot be firmly established. It is possible, for example, that difficulties in children's social-emotional behaviour could influence parental device use rather than only the reverse.

The data also relied on parents' self-reports, and the sample came from a limited geographical area in China. Socioeconomic status and some other potentially relevant family factors were not controlled. Future studies using longitudinal research, direct observation, third-party assessments and families from different regions and cultures could clarify how these relationships develop over time.