Mothers' phubbing behaviors and parental role: A cross-sectional correlational study

Abstract

Objective

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between mothers' phubbing behaviors and the parental role.

Methods

The study was conducted as a cross-sectional correlational design with the mothers of 340 babies hospitalized in the pediatric clinics of a training and research hospital in X between March 2023 and September 2023. An introductory information form, the Generic Scale of Phubbing and the Self-Perception of Parental Scale were used in the study. Mothers filled out the data collection forms face to face within 15-20 minutes.

Results

It was found that the mean age was 29.65 ± 4.38 years, the mean hours of using social media per day was 6.86 ± 1.64, and the mean hours spent with the baby was 20.40 ± 3.78 for mothers. There was a negative relationship between The Generic Scale of Phubbing- Interpersonal Conflict sub-dimension mean score (−0.264; <0.001), Problem Acknowledgement sub-dimension mean score (−0.118; 0.030) and total mean score (−0.145; 0.007) with the Self-Perception of Parental Scale-Competence sub-dimension mean score.

Conclusion

This study found a relationship between mothers' phubbing behavior and their parental roles. It suggests investigating this important issue with different variables.

Implications to practice

Pediatric nurses can provide training to reduce mothers' phubbing behaviors or develop practices to change phubbing behaviors.