The Relationship between Parental Smartphone Addiction and Preschool Children's Emotional Regulation.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between parental smartphone addiction and preschool children's emotional regulation.

Methods: A total of 818 preschool children, aged between 3 and 6 years, and their fathers and mothers were included in the study. Data were collected using the Chinese version of the Emotional Regulation Checklist and the Chinese version of the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale. SPSS v. 20.0 was used to conduct descriptive statistical analysis, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and correlation analysis. Mplus v. 7.11 was used to conduct structural equation model analysis.

Results: Girls' emotional regulation was significantly stronger than boys' (P = .037). The emotional regulation of preschool children in the older class was significantly stronger than that of preschool children in the intermediate class and primary class (P = .045). There was no significant difference in emotional regulation between intermediate class children and primary class children (P = .213). Fathers' smartphone addiction (FSA) and mothers' smartphone addiction (MSA) were significant negative predictors of preschool children's emotional regulation (β _MSA = -0.541, β _FSA = -0.250). Mothers' smartphone addiction had a significantly stronger predictive effect on preschool children's emotional regulation than fathers' smartphone addiction.

Conclusion: This study adds to previous research on parental smartphone addiction and preschool children's emotional regulation. The findings suggest that it is necessary to consider parental smartphone addiction, especially mothers' smartphone addiction, when developing intervention programs to enhance preschool children's emotional regulation.