Validation of a revised parental phubbing scale for parents of young children in China

ABSTRACT

To examine the reliability and validity of revised Parental Phubbing Scale (PPS) and measure the level of parental phubbing, 701 Chinese children aged 3–6 years and their parents were investigated. The results indicated that (1) the construct validity of the PPS was supported by the best-fit one-factor model; (2) concurrent validity was established by demonstrating that the PPS was positively related to parental smartphone addiction; (3) the PPS was positively correlated with authoritarian parenting style, established the predictive validity; (4) internal reliability was satisfactory. The results also showed that fathers’ and mothers’ phubbing were at the intermediate level; moreover, phubbing levels were highest among parents aged 31–40. The findings conclude that PPS can be used as a reliable and valid measure to evaluate parents’ phubbing and also highlight the need for further research on mothers’ and fathers’ phubbing.

KEYWORDS:

• Parental phubbing scale
• reliability
• validity
• parents
• preschool children

Acknowledgements

The execution of this paper was a collaborative effort on behalf of all authors. WFZ, YL, and JL conceptualized and designed the study. The data collection was conducted by WFZ, JL, YJ, JYW, and QZ. JL and YJ carried out the data analysis and wrote the initial manuscript. BWX and YL critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Research Ethics Committee of Shanghai Normal University. Informed consent was obtained from all participants and their parents/legal guardians in the study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juan Li

Juan Li, a doctoral student in preschool education, is focusing on the areas of family digital media, children's media use, and child development. Her recent articles include Translation and Validation of the Chinese Version of the Problematic Media Use Measure (Early Education and Development 2023).

Yue Jiang

Yue Jiang, a master's degree student in preschool education, focuses on the areas of parental phubbing and children's media use.

Bowen Xiao

Bowen Xiao is a Ph.D. in psychology. Her research interests are related to family environment, child shyness, media use and social adjustment. Her recent articles include Using Machine Learning to Explore the Risk Factors of Smartphone Addiction among Canadian Adolescents during COVID-19: It All about the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) (Applied Science 2023).

Jingyao Wang

Jingyao Wang, a doctoral student in preschool education, writes about parenting and children's media use. Her recent articles include Translation and Validation of the Chinese Version of the Problematic Media Use Measure (Early Education and Development 2023).

Qing Zhang

Qing Zhang, a master's degree student in preschool education, her research interests are associated with parental phubbing, parent–child relationships, and children's media use.

Weifang Zhang

Weifang Zhang is a professor in the field of educational management. Her research area involves family education, kindergarten education, and child development. Her recent articles include A Comparative Study on Mental Emotion Understanding of Hearing-Impaired Children (Chinese Scientific Journal of Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation 2023).

Yan Li

Yan Li is a professor of preschool education, who conducts research in the areas of teacher education, family education, digital media, and child development. Among her recent articles are Maternal Failure Mindsets and Parenting Styles: Exploring the Mediating Role of Maternal Attributions of Children's Academic Failures (Early Education and Development 2023) and Translation and Validation of the Chinese Version of the Problematic Media Use Measure (Early Education and Development 2023).