Table 3 Summary of methods and findings exploring the association between parental technoference and adolescent mental health

Bai et al., 2020

To understand the association between mother phubbing, adolescent academic burnout and the moderating role of mental health.

Displacement Hypothesis; Diathesis-Stress Model

Mother phubbing was positively associated with children’s academic burnout through poor mental health. The relationship between mother phubbing and adolescent mental health was moderated by agreeableness, and neuroticism aggravated the influence of general mental health on academic burnout.

Bai et al., 2021

To explore whether parental phubbing would be positively related to adolescent phubbing and whether this would be positively related to adolescent depressive symptoms and the mediating role of attachment avoidance.

Displacement Hypothesis; Person–Environment Hypothesis

Parental phubbing was positively associated with adolescent phubbing as well as depressive symptoms. Attachment avoidance moderated the congruence and incongruent effects on parent/adolescent phubbing on adolescent depressive symptoms.

Geng et al., 2021

To examine the relationship between early perceived parental phubbing and subsequent problematic smartphone use and the mediating factors of loneliness and fear of missing out.

Social Learning Theory; Compensatory Internet Use Theory

Parental phubbing predicted adolescents’ subsequent problematic smartphone use. Loneliness and fear of missing out sequentially mediated the relationship.

Liu et al., 2020a

To examine the effect of parental phubbing on adolescent life satisfaction and addressing the role of the parent adolescent relationship and adolescent attachment styles.

Social Rejection Theory; Assets Theory

The conditional effect of parental phubbing on adolescents’ life satisfaction was significant among the preoccupied teens and the fearful teens but not significant among the secure teens and the dismissing teens.

Liu et al., 2020b

To explore the association between parental technoference and adolescent smartphone addiction and the mediating effects of social sensitivity and loneliness.

Ecological Systems Theory; Risky Families Model

Parental technoference could positively predict adolescent social sensitivity and loneliness and in turn social sensitivity and loneliness were positively associated with smartphone addiction tendency.

Stockdale et al., 2018

To examine the direct relationship among adolescents’ perceptions of parent-adolescent technoference and the impact on adolescent depression, anxiety, cyberbullying pro-social behaviour and civic engagement.

Attachment Theory

Parental technoference was associated with adolescent technoference which were uniquely related to increased anxiety, depression as mediated through parental warmth.

Wang et al., 2020(a)

To examine whether self-esteem and perceived social support would simultaneously moderate the relationship between parental phubbing and adolescent depressive symptoms.

Family Systems Theory

Adolescents with a high level of parental phubbing were likely to have a high level of depressive symptoms. Higher levels of parental phubbing significantly predicted depressive symptoms when adolescent self-esteem and perceived social support were low.

Xie et al., 2019

To determine if adolescent mobile phone addiction increases after being phubbed by parents and examine effects of the mediating roles of parent child attachment, deviant peer affiliation and moderating role of gender.

Social Control Theory; Informal Social Control Theory

Parental phubbing was positively related with adolescent mobile phone addiction. Parent-child attachment and deviant peer affiliation was found to mediate the relationship.

Xie & Xie, 2020

To test the connections between parental phubbing and depression in late childhood and adolescence as well as the mediating roles of parental warmth parental rejection and relatedness need satisfaction.

Expectancy Violations Theory; Self-Determination Theory

Parental phubbing was associated with adolescents’ depressions in both studies. Mediating factors included parental warmth, relatedness and satisfaction.

Zhang et al., 2021

To examine the potential mechanism between parental phubbing and adolescent mobile phone addiction and the mediating role of social anxiety and core self-evaluations.

Social Learning Theory

Social anxiety and core self-evaluation played multiple roles in the association between parental phubbing and adolescent mobile phone addiction, with parental phubbing influencing adolescent mobile phone addiction.