The Effects of Perceived Parental Phubbing on Early Adolescents’ Attention Problems, Depressive Symptoms, and Friendship Quality: The Mediating Impact of Parent-Child Conflict Resolution Using Multigroup Analysis

This study aimed to examine the effects of perceived parental phubbing on parent-child conflict resolution, attention problems, depressive symptoms, and friendship quality among early adolescents. The study also investigated whether these structural paths differed by sex. Data were collected from 540 students (271 girls, 50.2%) in 4th through 6th. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 27.0 and Mplus 8.11 with descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, structural equation modeling, and multigroup analysis performed. The main findings are as follows: First, parental phubbing negatively affected parent-child conflict resolution strategies, while positively affecting early adolescents’ attention problems and depressive symptoms. Second, perceived parental phubbing had a significant indirect effect on early adolescents’ attention problems, depressive symptoms, and friendship quality mediated by parent-child conflict resolution strategies. Third, significant sex differences were observed in this study’s proposed structural paths, indicating that boys and girls may experience and respond to parental phubbing in distinct ways. These findings highlight the need for educational programs that raise awareness of phubbing and its maladjustment outcomes to effectively support early adolescents during their critical developmental period. Moreover, the results provide practical implications for parenting strategies aimed at protecting early adolescents’ mental health.