Journal Pre-proof

The Impact of Parental Active Mediation on Adolescent Mobile Phone

Dependency: A Moderated Mediation Model

Xinchen Fu, Jingxuan Liu, Ru-De Liu, Yi Ding, Wei Hong, Shuyang Jiang

PII: S0747-5632(20)30036-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106280
Reference: CHB 106280

To appear in: Computers in Human Behavior

Received Date: 22 July 2019

Accepted Date: 29 January 2020

Please cite this article as: Xinchen Fu, Jingxuan Liu, Ru-De Liu, Yi Ding, Wei Hong, Shuyang
Jiang, The Impact of Parental Active Mediation on Adolescent Mobile Phone Dependency: A
Moderated Mediation Model, Computers in Human Behavior (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.
2020.106280

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 Journal Pre-proof

The Impact of Parental Active Mediation on Adolescent Mobile Phone

Dependency: A Moderated Mediation Model

Xinchen Fu1, Jingxuan Liu2, Ru-De Liu*1, Yi Ding3, Wei Hong1, Shuyang Jiang1

1 Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for
Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing
Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
2 Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
3 Graduate School of Education, Fordham University, New York, NY 10023, USA

*Corresponding Author:
Ru-De Liu, Ph. D.
Faculty of Psychology
Beijing Normal University
No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, P. R. China
E-mail: liurude@126.com.

Funding:
This research was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (No. 17BSH102).

Conflicts of Interest:
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
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The Impact of Parental Active Mediation on Adolescent Mobile Phone Dependency: A

Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

Based on existing studies on the impact of parental active mediation and parental

behaviors on adolescents’ use of media and mobile phones, the present study explored the

impact of parental active mediation on mobile phone dependency and its underlying

mechanism through 2238 Chinese adolescents to verify a moderated mediation model. The

results showed that parental active mediation affected adolescent mobile phone dependency

behaviors through a chain mediation of adolescent behavioral attitude and behavioral

intention. Parental phubbing moderated the impact of parental active mediation on adolescent

behavioral attitude toward self-controlling mobile phone use; the impact was weakened when

the frequency of parental phubbing increased. The findings of this study provide theoretical

guidelines for parental intervention to prevent adolescent mobile phone dependency.

Key words: parental active mediation, adolescent mobile phone dependency, adolescent

attitude, adolescent intention, parental phubbing

1 Introduction

Adolescent mobile phone dependency and problematic use behaviors are found across

different cultures (Lopez-Fernandez, Honrubia-Serrano, Freixa-Blanxart, & Gibson, 2014;

Seo, Park, Kim, & Park, 2016), and their potential harmful effects on health, psychological

development and learning (Enez Darcin et al., 2016; Lepp, Barkley, & Karpinski, 2014; Hawi

& Samaha, 2016) have drawn increasing social attention (Haug et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2017;

Nikolopoulou & Gialamas, 2018). Parental mediation is thought to be an effective way to

reduce the negative consequences of problematic mobile phone use behaviors (Hefner, Knop,

Schmitt, & Vorderer, 2018). Among all types of parental mediation, parental active
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mediation was found to be the best and most stable factor that protects child from

problematic behaviors, such as violence (Linder & Werner, 2012; Nathanson & Yang, 2003),

video game addiction (Nikken & Jansz, 2006), and internet addiction (Chang et al., 2015).

Therefore, we hypothesized that the positive effect of parental active mediation will apply to

adolescent mobile phone dependent behaviors. If parental active mediation produces the

hypothesized effect, what role will it play in adolescent mobile phone use? In addition, what

would be the ideal conditions and circumstances for parent active mediation to be most

effective? The present study aimed to investigate the impact of parental active mediation on

adolescent mobile phone dependency and mechanism behind such impact.

1.1 The impact of parental mediation on adolescent mobile phone dependency

Most adolescents own or have access to at least one mobile phone (Billieux, 2012).

However, adolescents have a high tendency to overly focus on mobile phone use to the point

that they ignore other people and activities (Madell, & Muncer, 2007; Rees & Noyes, 2007;

Walsh, White, Cox, & Young, 2011). Adolescents’ excessive mobile phone use can lead to a

rise in behaviors of mobile phone dependency (Chóliz, 2012; Goswami & Singh, 2016).

Mobile phone dependency refers to mobile phone overuse and intermittent craving for mobile

phone use (Ezoe et al., 2009). It is similar to concepts such as mobile phone addiction and

problematic mobile phone use (Foerster, Roser, Schoeni, & Röösli, 2015; Kwon, Kim, Cho,

& Yang, 2013). Symptoms of mobile phone dependency include excessive attention towards

mobile phone, overuse due to lack of control, phone use in inappropriate contexts, and

withdrawal effects (Nikhita, Jadhav, & Ajinkya, 2015). These symptoms can lead to a series

of physical and mental health problems, including fatigue, headache, sleep disturbance,

impulse, stress, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations (Enez Darcin et al., 2016; Lepp,

Barkley, & Karpinski, 2014; Roberts, Pullig, & Manolis, 2015; Samaha & Hawi, 2016; Seo

et al., 2016; Söderqvist, Carlberg, & Hardell, 2008; Thomée, Härenstam, & Hagberg, 2011;
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Wang et al., 2014). In addition, mobile phone dependency could hinder student learning

(Hawi & Samaha, 2016; Lepp et al., 2014; Samaha & Hawi, 2016) and interfere with student

social involvement and the development of intimate relationships (Chóliz, 2010; Przybylski,

& Weinstein, 2013; Walsh, White, & Young, 2008).

The serious effects of adolescent mobile phone dependency have prompted parents to

reduce their child’s excessive mobile phone use behaviors through parental mediation. The

concept of parental mediation evolved from parents’ supervision of their child’s media usage.

It refers to parental involvement in the forms of active mediation, restrictive mediation, or co-

viewing to influence their child’s media use behaviors (Padilla-Walker, Coyne, Fraser, Dyer,

& Yorgason, 2012; Valkenburg, Krcmar, Peeters, & Marseille, 1999). Among these three

types of parental mediation, active mediation was found to have the most positive influence

over children’s problematic behaviors (Buijzen & Valkenburg, 2005; Ruh Linder & Werner,

2012).

Parental mediation theory suggests that parents attempt different approaches of

communication aiming to reduce the negative influence of media on their child, and that

parental mediation, as a type of parent-child communication approach over media, plays a

critical role in the child’s socialization (Clark, 2011). Active mediation is a type of parental

mediation that involves parent-child discussion of media content, which can improve child’s

critical thinking skills and thus protect them from the negative influence of media content

(Nathanson, 1999). Research suggests that parental active mediation plays a crucial role in

reducing child’s problematic behaviors, such as problematic social media use (Connell,

Lauricella, & Wartella, 2015; Meeus, Eggermont, & Beullens, 2018; Shin & Ismail, 2014),

pathological video gaming (Choo, Sim, Liau, Gentile, & Khoo, 2015; Nikken & Jansz, 2006),

aggressive behaviors (Nathanson, 2004; Padilla-Walker, Coyne, & Collier, 2016; Valkenburg,

Piotrowski, Hermanns, & de Leeuw, 2013), negative sexual behaviors (Nikken & de Graaf,
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2013; Schooler, Kim, & Sorsoli, 2006), and substance abuse (Austin, Pinkleton, & Fujioka,

2000; Fujioka & Austin, 2003). Considering that mobile phone serves as a platform for media,

the positive impact of parental active mediation on reducing problematic media use could be

applied to reducing adolescent mobile phone dependency. Moreover, Hefner et al., (2018)

found an existing negative correlation between parental active mediation and adolescent

mobile phone dependency. This study attempted to further examine the role of parental active

mediation in reducing adolescent phone dependency behaviors. We hypothesized: parental

active mediation negatively predicts adolescent phone dependency (H1).

1.2 The mediating effect of behavioral attitude and behavioral intention

Parental active mediation takes place when parents provide instructions and communicate

with their child regarding mobile phone usage (Nathanson, 2004). It is often considered as a

positive and open approach of communication. According to the family communication

pattern theory (FCPT), communication between family members can promote shared

understandings, result in mutual beliefs, and consequently reduce tension and conflict

(Koerner & Fitzpatrick, 2006). Being exposed to their parents’ thoughts can prompt

adolescents to engage in critical thinking (Austin, 1993). Such interaction encourages them to

adjust their thinking to match their parents’ attitude, which eventually affects their behaviors.

On the other hand, according to General Learning Model, repeated exposure to

environmental factors (e.g. prosocial media or parents’ communication) can influence

individual briefs and attitudes, thereby changing the individual’s behaviors (Buckley &

Anderson, 2006; Padilla-Walker, Coyne, Collier, & Nielson, 2015). In addition, Nathanson

(1999) found that parental active mediation negatively correlated with child’s attitudes

toward violence and violent behaviors and pointed out that parental mediation exerts its effect

by altering the child’s view towards violence. Based on these two theories and research

evidence, the present study hypothesized that adolescents attitude towards self-control plays a
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mediating role in the impact of parental active mediation on mobile phone dependency.

According to parental mediation theory, under the influence of parental active mediation,

adolescents develop critical thinking towards mobile phone use (Clark, 2011). This promotes

them to learn the adaptive approaches to control mobile phone use and to adopt healthy

mobile phone use styles. In addition, research indicates that low self-control towards mobile

phone use serves as an important predictor of mobile phone dependent behaviors (Lee, &

Cho, 2015; Han, Geng, Jou, Gao, & Yang, 2017). Therefore, the present study focused on

adolescent attitude and intention towards self-control of mobile phone use.

Some studies of social media have partially confirmed the path of this theoretical

inference. Parental active mediation has been shown to affect child’s attitudes and behaviors

regarding media. For example, parental active mediation toward TV and media use can

influence adolescent attitudes with regard to drinking and violence (Fujioka & Austin, 2003;

Linder & Werner, 2012). Parental active mediation is also effective in altering adolescent

attitudes and behaviors related to drinking, sex, and smoking (Guo & Nathanson, 2011;

Nathanson, 1999; Nikken & de Graaf, 2013; Thompson & Gunther, 2007). Thus, we

hypothesized that parental active mediation positively predicts adolescent attitude toward

self-control of mobile phone use, which negatively predicts adolescent mobile phone

dependency (H2).

In addition, parental active mediation could alter child behavior through influencing

child’s behavioral intention towards self-control of mobile phone use. The direct relation

between behavioral intention and behaviors has been revealed in many previous studies

(Askew et al., 2014; Brug, de Vet, de Nooijer, & Verplanken, 2006; Karimi-Shahanjarini et

al., 2012; Smith & McSweeney, 2007; Vanwesenbeeck, Walrave, & Ponnet, 2016).

Moreover, Tildesley and Andrews (2008) used cohort-sequential latent growth modeling and

found that parental active mediation was directly related to child’s behavioral intention
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toward alcohol use in children from grades one to eight. Studies found that parental active

mediation negatively predicts child’s futuristic sexual behavioral intention (Fisher, et al.,

2009). On the other hand, a large amount of research findings and theories suggest that

behavioral intention directly influence actual behavior with high cross-time stability (Ajzen,

1971; Ajzen & Fishbein, 2005; Andrews, Tildesley, Hops, Duncan, & Severson, 2003; Webb

& Sheeran, 2006). Based on the above, we hypothesized: parental active mediation positively

predicts adolescent intention toward self-control of mobile phone use, which negatively

predicts adolescent mobile phone dependency (H3).

Furthermore, adolescents’ attitude can affect their behavioral intention. According to the

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), individual intention is the direct influential factor behind

individual behavior, and intention itself is influenced by individual attitude (e.g., positive or

negative assessment of the behavior overall) (Ajzen, 1971, 1991). A large number of studies

have demonstrated that individual attitudes toward social media affect behavioral intention,

which then changes actual behaviors. This applies to instant messaging (Lu, Zhou, & Wang,

2009; Wu & Chen, 2005), social networking (Al-Debei, Al-Lozi, & Papazafeiropoulou, 2013;

Baker & White, 2010, and selfie-posting (Kim, Lee, Sung, & Choi, 2016). The mediating

effect of behavioral attitude and behavioral intention in the proposed path also has been

found in related fields. For instance, an individual’s attitude toward exercise (such as playing

soccer or riding a bike) influences his/her behavioral intention, which can then affect the

frequency of exercising. This mediating effect of behavioral attitude and intention

demonstrates consistency across time (Bélanger-Gravel & Godin, 2010; Gourlan, Boiché,

Takito, Fregeac, & Cousson-Gélie, 2018). The same effect exists in smoking and substance

use (e.g., LSD and amphetamines; Ajzen & Fishbein, 2005; Malmberg et al., 2012). Thus, the

current study hypothesized that parental active mediation negatively predicts adolescent
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mobile phone dependency through a chain mediation of adolescent attitude toward self-

control of mobile phone use and adolescent corresponding intention (H4).

1.3 The moderating effect of parental phubbing

In addition to parental active mediation, parents’ own mobile phone use behaviors can

influence adolescent mobile phone dependency. According to Bandura’s social cognitive

theory, children observe the behaviors of others around them and are especially prone to

observing, remembering, and imitating the behaviors their parents demonstrate, such as

cursing (Bandura, 1978; 1989). Many studies show that adolescent attitudes and behaviors

are highly related to those of their parents, including media use (Barradas, Fulton, Blanck, &

Huhman, 2007; Webster, Pearson, & Webster, 1986), smoking (Tilson, McBride, Lipkus, &

Catalano, 2004), drinking (Jones, Hussong, Manning, & Sterrett, 2008), and substance abuse

(Yen, Yen, Chen, Chen, & Ko, 2007). Evidence shows that children are aware of their

parents’ attitudes and behaviors toward media use and adjust their own attitudes and

behaviors based on those of their parents. For example, parents’ television-viewing behaviors

can significantly predict their children’s television-viewing behaviors (Bleakley, Jordan, &

Hennessy, 2013).

Parental phubbing is one kind of parent behaviors that remarkably impacts adolescent

mobile phone dependency. Phubbing refers to the act of neglecting others due to mobile

phone use in the midst of social interactions (Roberts & David, 2016; Stockdale, Coyne, &

Padilla-Walker, 2018). Phubbing behaviors interrupt conversations, hinder communication

between partners, and reduce the quality of relationship and subjective well-being of the

neglected (Coyne, Stockdale, Busby, Iverson, & Grant, 2011; McDaniel & Coyne, 2016).

Parental phubbing occurs when parents neglect their child’s behaviors due to mobile phone

use in the process of parent-child communication or interaction (Xie, Chen, Zhu, & He,

2019). Research suggests that parental phubbing influences children’s mobile phone use in an
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implicit way (Vaala & Bleakley, 2015). When parents often glance at their phones while they

interact with their child, the child is inclined to learn and imitate these behaviors

unintentionally (Hefner et al., 2018). Therefore, the current study hypothesized that parental

phubbing positively predicts adolescent mobile phone dependency (H5).

When parental mediation or disciplines are inconsistent with parents’ own behaviors,

their positive impact on adolescent behaviors is reduced. At times, such inconsistency can

produce unfavorable results. For example, although harsh discipline (such as physical

punishment) might be used to reduce child’s behavioral problems, it might perpetuate the

child’s externalizing behavioral problems (Lansford, Criss, Pettit, Dodge, & Bates, 2003). In

a longitudinal study, van der Vorst, Engels, Meeus, and Dekovic (2006) found that while

parental use of strict rules regarding drinking negatively predicted the onset of adolescent

drinking behaviors, the effect diminished with time. This was mainly due to the parents’ own

drinking behaviors directly influencing and predicting adolescent drinking behaviors. The

same phenomenon has been observed in internet addiction studies. The findings of Liu, Fang,

Deng, and Zhang (2012) showed that when parental norms were consistent with their own

internet use behaviors, parental norms negatively predicted adolescent internet addiction;

however, when parental norms were inconsistent with their own internet use behaviors,

parental internet use behaviors positively predicted adolescent internet addiction. In addition,

previous research found that family environmental factors could moderate the relationship

between parental monitoring and adolescent abnormal mobile phone use behaviors (Chng, Li,

Liau, & Khoo, 2015). Parental behaviors are one aspect of the family environment and play a

moderating role between parental mediation or norms and children’s behaviors.

Given that parental behaviors moderate the impact of parental mediation on child’s

attitudes and behaviors, and considering the demonstrated effects of parental phubbing, this
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study hypothesized: parental phubbing moderates the impact of parental active mediation on

adolescent behaviors (H6) and their attitudes (H7).

In conclusion, this study aimed to explore the impact of parental active mediation on

adolescent mobile phone dependency and its internal mechanism. As demonstrated in our

integrated moderated mediation model (Figure 1), we attempted to show that (a) parental

active mediation impacts adolescent dependence behaviors through a chain mediation of

adolescent attitude and intention toward self-control of mobile phone use, and (b) parental

phubbing moderates the impact of parental active mediation on adolescent mobile phone

dependency behaviors and attitudes toward self-control of mobile phone use.

-- Insert Figure 1 Here --

2. Method

2.1. Participants

A total of 2238 adolescents from two secondary schools (Grades 7 to 11) in Beijing and

Changsha, China, respectively, participated in our study. The mean age of the participants

was 13.89 years (SD = 2.44) with a range from 12 to 19 years; 1111 (49.6%) were male, 1043

(46.6%) were female, and 84 (3.8%) did not report gender.

2.2. Procedures

We obtained approval to conduct the study from the Research Ethics Committee of a

major Beijing research university and the principals of the participating schools. Before the

formal investigation took place, we field tested the questionnaire items with two or three

students randomly selected from each grade to ensure that the items were comprehensible.

The students were first informed of the voluntary nature of this study and their right to opt

out at any time during the course of the study. Then they were asked to complete a

questionnaire that assessed parental active mediation, child’s mobile phone dependency,
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child’s behavioral attitude and intention toward self-control of mobile phone use, parental

phubbing, and demographic information.

2.3. Measures

2.3.1 Parental active mediation

We used a subscale of the Chinese version of the Parental Mediation of Internet Use

scale (Wu, 2016), which was adapted from Nikken and Jansz (2014), to measure parental

active mediation. For this study, the phrase “internet use” was changed to “mobile phone use”

to assess parental active mediation of children’s mobile phone use. It had four items (e.g.,

“My parents provide me with instruction on how to use mobile phone applications”) to which

students responded using a 5-point Likert-type scale (ranging from 1 = never to 5 = always).

Higher scores indicated higher levels of parental active mediation and lower scores indicated

lower levels. Cronbach's α for parental active mediation was 0.809.

2.3.2 Mobile phone dependency

The Mobile Phone Dependency Scale (Seo et al., 2016) was used in this study to assess

mobile phone dependency. The scale included seven items (e.g., “I feel anxious when I don’t

have my cellular phone with me”) to which students responded using a 4-point Likert-type

scale (1 = strongly no, 2 = relatively no, 3 = relatively yes, 4 = strongly yes). Higher scores

indicated a greater level of mobile phone dependency. In this study, Cronbach's α for mobile

phone dependency was 0.883.

2.3.3 Behavioral attitude and behavioral intention

The Chinese version of the Behavioral Attitude Scale and the Behavioral Intention Scale

(Lu et al., 2009), adapted from Taylor and Todd (1995), was used in this study to measure

adolescent behavioral attitude and intention towards self-control of mobile phone use. The

phrase “instant messaging” was replaced by “self-control of mobile phone use” to match the

purpose of the study. The Behavioral Attitude Scale consisted of three items (e.g., “Self-
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control of mobile phone use is a good idea”) and the Behavioral Intention Scale consisted of

two items (e.g., “I will frequently self-control my mobile phone use”) to which students

responded using a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 = completely disagree to 5 =

completely agree. The higher the students’ score on the scales, the more they agreed with or

intended to self-control their mobile phone usage. In the present study, Cronbach's α was

0.730 for behavioral attitude and 0.651 for behavioral intention.

2.3.4 Parental phubbing

The Parental Phubbing Scale was adapted from Roberts and David (2016). The word

“partner” was replaced with “parental” to assess the frequency of parental engagement in

phubbing when interacting with their children. Participants responded to nine items (e.g.,

“My parent glances at his/her cell phone when talking to me”) using a 5-point Likert-type

scale ranging from 1 = never to 5 = always. Item 7 (“My parent does not use his or her phone

when we are talking”) was coded in reverse. Higher scores indicated that parents engaged in

more frequent phubbing when they were interacting with their child. Cronbach's α for

phubbing was 0.857.

2.4. Statistical analysis

We conducted descriptive analyses and Pearson correlations with SPSS 22.0. We first

assessed the pattern of missing data through Little’s Missing Completely at Random (MCAR)

test. The result revealed that the missing data were random, χ² (114) = 130.790, p > 0.05.

Therefore, we used the listwise method for the missing data in the following structural

equation model. Among the 2238 participants, 1935 provided complete data on all the

variables. Next, we tested the moderated mediation model using the SPSS macro PROCESS

(model 86) (http://www.afhayes.com) recommended by Hayes (2013). SPSS macro

PROCESS was developed and widely used for testing complex models that include both
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mediating and moderating variables (e.g., Cero & Sifers, 2013; Chung, Allen, & Dennis,

2013).

3 Results

3.1 Preliminary analyses

The descriptive statistics and correlation matrices are presented in Table 1. Parental

active mediation was negatively correlated with children’s mobile phone dependency and

parental phubbing and positively correlated with children’s behavioral attitude and behavioral

intention. Children’s mobile phone dependency was negatively correlated with behavioral

attitude and behavioral intention and positively correlated with parental phubbing. Children’s

behavioral attitude was positively correlated with behavioral intention and negatively

correlated with parental phubbing. Children’s behavioral intention was negatively correlated

with parental phubbing.

-- Insert Table 1 Here --

3.2. Testing for the proposed model

The analysis results of SPSS macro PROCESS are presented in Table 2, which consists

of four parts: Model 1, Model 2, Model 3, and the conditional indirect effect analysis of

Model 1. Model 1 tested the effects of parental active mediation and parental phubbing on

children’s behavioral attitude; Model 2 examined the effects of parental active mediation and

children’s behavioral attitude on behavioral intention; and Model 3 investigated the effects of

parental active mediation, children’s behavioral attitude, and children’s behavioral intention

on children’s mobile phone dependency.

-- Insert Table 2 Here --

The conditional indirect effect analysis of Model 1 analyzed the effects of parental

active mediation on children’s behavioral attitude at the mean, plus and minus one standard

deviation level of parental phubbing. Model 1 (F = 26.62, R2 = 0.25, p < 0.001), Model 2 (F
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= 222.51, R2 = 0.56, p < 0.001), and Model 3 (F = 174.83, R2 = 0.558, p < 0.001) show that

after controlling for gender and grade, parental active mediation had no relation with phone

dependency (β = -0.031, p > 0.05). The results do not support Hypothesis 1. However,

parental active mediation positively predicted children’s behavioral attitude (β = 0.137, p <

0.001), and children’s behavioral attitude negatively predicted children’s mobile phone

dependency (β = -0.194, p < 0.001). The results support Hypothesis 2. Parental active

mediation positively predicted children’s behavioral intention (β = 0.085, p < 0.001) and

children’s behavioral intention negatively predicts children’s mobile phone dependency. The

results support Hypothesis 3 (see Figure 2). Parental active mediation positively predicts

children’s behavioral attitude and children’s behavioral attitude positively predicted

children’s behavioral intention (β = 0.519, p < 0.001), and children’s behavioral intention

negatively predicted children’s mobile phone dependency (β = -0.411, p < 0.001). The results

support Hypothesis 4.

– Insert Figure 2 Here --

Our findings show that parental phubbing positively predicted adolescent mobile phone

dependency, supporting H5. As shown in the conditional indirect effect analysis of Model 1,

all three of the conditional indirect effects (based on the moderator values at the mean and at

plus and minus one standard deviation) were positive and significantly different from zero.

This suggests that due to the interaction of parental active mediation and parental phubbing,

the indirect effect of parental active mediation on children’s behavioral attitude was low

when parental phubbing was moderate to high, but the effect was high when parental

phubbing was low. The interaction of parental active mediation and parental phubbing

showed non-significant effects on children’s mobile phone dependency (β = -0.014, p > 0.05).

The results do not support Hypothesis 6. More importantly, the results indicated a full

mediation model: Parental active mediation affected children’s mobile phone dependency
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completely through the moderated mediation path while children’s behavioral attitude and

behavioral intention acted as mediators and parental phubbing as a moderator.

– Insert Figure 3 Here –

The interaction of parental active mediation and parental phubbing showed significant

effects on children’s behavioral attitude (β = -0.059, p < 0.01). This suggests that the relation

between parental active mediation and children’s behavioral attitude was moderated by

parental phubbing (see Figure 3). The results support Hypothesis 7.

4. Discussion

Our study results suggest that parental active mediation impacts children’s behavioral

attitude and children’s behavioral intention, which reduces children’s mobile phone

dependency behaviors. Parental phubbing moderates the relation between parental active

mediation and children’s behavioral attitude. Our results indicate that parental active

mediation can influence adolescent mobile phone dependency by targeting adolescent

behavioral attitude or behavioral intention, considering that adolescent behavioral attitude

and behavioral intention fully mediate the path between parental active mediation and

adolescent mobile phone dependency.

First, our study results showed that parental active mediation was negatively

correlated with adolescent mobile phone dependency, which supports H1. This is consistent

with the results of a previous study conducted with children from ages 8 to 14 (Hefner et al.,

2018). Similar results were revealed in studies that investigated the impact of parental active

mediation on child’s exposure to media violence (Austin, 1993; Austin, Roberts, & Nass,

1990; Nathanson, 1999). These results suggest that parents make efforts to reduce the

negative impact that social media exerts on children through active mediation (Clark, 2011).

Therefore, parental active mediation acts as a protection factor against child mobile phone

dependency.
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Second, our study revealed that parental mediation could affect adolescent mobile phone

dependency behaviors through impacting the child’s behavioral attitude (H2). Similar results

were found in research regarding child smoking and drinking behaviors (Fujioka & Austin,

2003; Thompson & Gunther, 2007). The results from the present study can further extend the

scope of the Family Communication Pattern Theory. In addition, this result is consistent with

the persuasion theory. In persuasion behaviors, it is most important to alter attitudes, which

then will lead to behavioral changes (Bator & Cialdini, 2000; Zuwerink & Devine, 1996).

Parental active mediation is a communication process between parent and child that involves

persuasion behaviors, which alters the child’s behavioral attitude towards self-control of

mobile phone use behaviors and lead to changes in behaviors. Furthermore, the mediating

effect of attitude has been found in studies regarding environmental contamination behaviors

(Ojedokun, 2011), video game purchasing behaviors (Adis et al., 2015), and investment

behaviors (Ali, 2011), which supports the direct influence of attitude on behaviors. The

findings suggest that parental active mediation can promote child’s understanding of their

parent’s attitude towards mobile phone use; this allows the child to integrate their parents’

thoughts and attitudes towards self-control of mobile phone use into their own thoughts,

which decreases mobile phone dependency.

Third, the present study found that parental active mediation could influence adolescents’

mobile phone dependency via their behavioral intention. This finding supports H3. According

to the Message Interpretation Process model, adolescents’ initial reactions towards a behavior

are largely determined by their desire for the behavior (Austin et al., 1990). Parent-child

communication on mobile phone use can help children to form positive perceptions of mobile

phones, reduce their desire to problematic mobile phone use, and increase their self-control

towards mobile phone use. Results from similar studies suggest that parental active mediation

towards televised sexual content effectively decreased child’s behavioral intention for sexual
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intercourse. This result shows that parental active mediation could alter child’s actual mobile

phone use behavior through changing child’s behavioral intention for self-control of mobile

phone use.

Fourth, parental active mediation can influence adolescent mobile phone dependency

through the chain mediation of adolescent behavioral attitude and adolescent behavioral

intention. This provides support for H4. Similar study results were reported in the studies on

substance abuse (Malmberg et al., 2012; McMillan & Conner, 2003) and health and

exercising (Armitage, 2005; Gourlan et al., 2018). According to the theory of planned

behavior, behavioral intention is the most direct influence of actual behaviors, and behavioral

intention is subjected to the influence of behavioral attitude (Ajzen, 1991). This result implies

that parental active mediation has the ability to alter a child’s attitude towards control of

mobile phone use; this can influence the child’s intention to control mobile phone use and

eventually reduce their mobile phone dependency.

Fifth, although parental phubbing positively predicted adolescent mobile phone

dependency (H5 supported), the present study failed to support that parental phubbing

moderated the relationship between parental active mediation and adolescent mobile phone

dependency. There was not sufficient evidence to support H6. It is plausible that adolescent

attitude and behavioral intentions completely mediated the relationship between parental

active mediation and adolescent mobile phone dependency, which caused the moderating

effect of parental phubbing to be only reflected in the mediation path. Parental active

mediation was negatively correlated with adolescent level of mobile phone dependency in

descriptive statistics; however, it did not directly predict adolescent mobile phone

dependency in the moderated mediation model. Therefore, the moderating role of parental

phubbing was only demonstrated in the moderated mediation path. The goal of parental

active mediation is to reduce the negative effects of adolescent mobile phone dependency, yet
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parental phubbing weakens the effectiveness of parental active mediation. According to

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the family is a microsystem in which children

mature and develop (Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994), and parents play fundamental roles in

their children’s behaviors and development. Therefore, parental phubbing affects adolescent

attitude and behavior. This suggests that when parents mediate their child, their own

behaviors play a substantial role in the outcome of their mediation.

Finally, the present study found that parental phubbing moderated the mediating roles of

behavioral attitude and intention in a path from parental active mediation to child mobile

phone dependency. This provides support for H7. High levels of parental phubbing weakened

the correlation between parental active mediation and adolescent behavioral attitude, while

low levels of parental phubbing strengthened the correlation. This finding is consistent with

Bandura’s social cognitive theory (1977) in which parents can influence their child without

direct intervention. When parents check their phones while interacting with their child, the

child is likely to learn and imitate such phubbing behaviors. Many studies of children’s

unexpected behaviors found that children are capable of learning and imitating their parents’

behaviors even when their parents do not intentionally encourage such behaviors (Bandura,

1989). In addition, existing research found that inconsistency between parental self-reported

behavioral norms and actual parental behaviors (i.e. parents prohibit child from drinking but

they are abusing alcohol themselves) could increase the likelihood of child’s engagement in

maladaptive behaviors, such as alcohol use and substance abuse (Chassin, Curran, Hussong,

& Colder, 1996; Conger, Rueter, & Conger, 1994). This is similar to how parental phubbing

weakened the influence of parental active mediation in our study.

5. Limitations and implications

Several limitations of the present study must be noted. First, our data were collected

through cross-sectional surveys, and the results are insufficient to infer causality. One
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longitudinal study demonstrated that the parental impact on child decreased as they grew

older (Valkenburg et al., 2013), whereas other longitudinal studies revealed stable

associations among attitudes, intentions, and behaviors over time (Bélanger-Gravel & Godin,

2010). Future studies with longitudinal or experimental designs could be conducted to

confirm the causal relations between the variables explored in the present study. Second, all

measures in the study were self-reported by the participants, which may restrict the validity

of the findings. Future research should consider collecting data from different sources (e.g.,

parents and teachers). Finally, given that the participants in this study were recruited from

two secondary schools in China, the generalizability of the findings is limited. There might

be differences in the school policies about students’ mobile phone use in the participating

schools, and economic disparities across regions could lead to differences in students’ mobile

phone ownership status. Therefore, future studies should include participants from different

types of schools, such as prestigious schools, ordinary schools, rural schools, and urban

schools.

In spite of these limitations, according to our knowledge, this study is the first of its

kind to investigate the mechanisms underlying the path from parental active mediation to

adolescent mobile phone dependency. The results have a number of important practical

implications. The study illustrates how and when parental active mediation affects adolescent

mobile phone dependency, and provides guidelines for parents and educators to intervene

with their child and students in an efficient manner. In China, most parents forbid their child

to bring mobile phones to school. At home, parents generally restrict their child’s time spent

on mobile phones as well as the content to prevent the detrimental effects of media use

(Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010). Previous studies have found that minors, especially

adolescents, are often prohibited from having free access to the Internet. These excessive

restrictions can prompt adolescents to generate antagonistic reactions (Byrne, & Lee, 2011;
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White, Rasmussen, & King, 2015). Instead of imposing such restrictions, our findings

indicate that parents should actively mediate their child’s mobile phone use behaviors. By

having open discussions with their child on issues pertaining mobile phone use, parents will

be able to exert more positive influences on their children’s mobile phone use behaviors. In

addition, parental phubbing can weaken the effects of active mediation on mobile phone

dependency by moderating the mediating effect of adolescent attitude toward self-control of

mobile phone use. Parents’ negative behaviors can produce negative consequences for their

child (van den Eijnden, Spijkerman, Vermulst, van Rooij, & Engels, 2010; Zhou, Zhang,

Liang, & Tsai, 2014). Therefore, parents need to closely monitor their own mobile phone use

behaviors at home with children, especially for those who want to regulate their children’s

mobile phone use behaviors.

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Xinchen Fu: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Roles/Writing -

original draft; Writing - review & editing. Jingxuan Liu: Validation, Writing -
review & editing. Ru-De Liu: Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources,
Supervision, Writing - review & editing. Ying Ding: Writing - review & editing. Wei
Hong: Investigation, Resources, Validation. Shuyang Jiang: Investigation,
Validation.
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Fig. 1. The hypothesized model

Fig. 2. Parental phubbing moderated the mediation of children’s behavioral attitude and behavioral intention between
parental active mediation and children’s mobile phone dependency. Values shown are standardized coefficients.
Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, **p < 0.001.
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Low Parental phubbing High Parental phubbing

5.0
Children's Behavioral attitude

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0
Low Parental active mediation High Parental active mediation

Fig. 3. Parental phubbing moderates the relation between parental active mediation and children’s behavioral attitude.
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Highlights
Parental active mediation (PAM) was negatively associated with adolescent mobile
phone (MP) dependency.
Adolescent attitude and intention toward self-control of MP use mediated the
association between PAM and MP dependency.
Parental phubbing moderated the association between PAM and adolescent attitude
toward self-control of MP use.
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Table 1
Means, standard deviations, and correlations between variables.
Variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1.Gender _ _ _
2.Year 13.89 2.45 0.064** _
3. Parental active mediation 3.23 1.17 0.000 -0.078*** _
4. Mobile phone dependency 1.93 0.69 0.115*** 0.165*** -0.119*** _
5. Behavioral attitude 3.93 1.04 0.057** -0.064** 0.147*** -0.410*** _
6. Behavioral intention 3.72 1.07 -0.012 -0.101*** 0.155*** -0.516*** 0.546*** _
7. Parental phubbing 2.80 0.92 0.099*** 0.006 -0.096*** 0.300*** -0.189*** -0.221*** _
Note. Gender (1 = male, 2 = female). *p < 0.05. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.
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Table 2
Conditional process analysis
β SE t p LLCI ULCI
Model 1
Outcome: Behavioral attitude
Predictors: Gender 0.171*** 0.046 3.728 0.000 0.081 0.261
Year -0.024** 0.009 -2.663 0.007 -0.045 -0.006
Parental active mediation 0.137*** 0.023 5.962 0.000 0.092 0.182
Parental phubbing -0.172*** 0.023 -7.722 0.000 -0.216 -0.129
Parental active mediation × Parental phubbing -0.059** 0.020 -2.907 0.004 -0.098 -0.019
Model 2
Outcome: Behavioral intention
Predictors: Gender -0.087* 0.038 -2.314 0.021 -0.162 -0.013
Year -0.019* 0.008 -2.529 0.011 -0.034 -0.004
Parental active mediation 0.085*** 0.020 4.421 0.000 0.047 0.122
Behavioral attitude 0.519*** 0.019 28.094 0.000 0.483 0.555
Model 3
Outcome: Mobile phone dependency
Predictors: Gender 0.260*** 0.040 6.459 0.000 0.181 0.338
Year 0.043*** 0.008 5.369 0.000 0.028 0.059
Parental active mediation -0.031 0.020 -1.501 0.134 -0.071 0.009
Behavioral attitude -0.194*** 0.023 -8.335 0.000 -0.240 -0.148
Behavioral intention -0.411*** 0.008 -17.033 0.000 -0.459 -0.364
Parental phubbing 0.174*** 0.020 8.885 0.000 0.136 0.213
Parental active mediation × Parental phubbing -0.014 0.017 -0.799 0.424 -0.048 0.020
Conditional indirect effect β Boot SE Boot LLCI Boot ULCI
M - 1 SD 0.199*** 0.032 0.137 0.261
M 0.140*** 0.023 0.094 0.185
M + 1 SD 0.073* 0.031 0.012 0.134
Conditional direct effect β Boot SE Boot LLCI Boot ULCI
M - 1 SD -0.004 0.028 -0.058 0.050
M -0.018 0.020 -0.057 0.022
M + 1 SD -0.034 0.027 -0.086 0.019
Note. Bootstrap sample size = 5000. LL = low limit, CI = confidence interval, UL = upper limit.
*p < 0.05. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001