Linking maternal phubbing (smartphone distractions in the presence of children) to child behavioral adjustment: A daily diary study

This study examined whether daily variation in maternal phubbing (smartphone distractions in the presence of children) was associated with daily variation in child inattentive and oppositional behaviors. Daily diary data were provided by the mothers of 78 fourth graders (mean age = 9.20 years; age range = 8–10 years) studying in five elementary schools in Hong Kong. On each of five consecutive days, mothers filled in an online questionnaire in the evening on their own smartphone use and their children’s behavioral adjustment during the day. Multilevel autoregressive lag-1 models within the dynamic structural equation modeling framework were run separately for child inattentive behaviors and child oppositional behaviors. Results indicated that on days when mothers phubbed their children more than usual (compared to their cross-day averages), children showed more inattentive and oppositional behaviors than usual (compared to their cross-day averages), even controlling for children’s momentary behavioral changes on the prior day. Theoretically, findings pointed to the potential role of parents’ smartphone distractions during parent-child interactions in understanding day-to-day variation in children’s behavioral adjustment. Practically, findings highlighted the possible utility of helping parents manage their smartphone use as ways to promote their children’s positive development. Copyright © 2026 The Author(s).