"Just a second, mommy's here": the impact of mothers' smartphone use on children's affect regulation and the quality of mother-child interactions.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The ubiquity of smartphone devices in our everyday lives has been widely recognized as a potential challenge to the quality of parent-child interactions. The aim of this study was to experimentally examine the effects of mothers' smartphone use on their children's affect regulation and on the quality of mother-child interactions, indicated by emotional availability of the dyad and maternal responsiveness. Additionally, we investigated the associations between mothers' behaviors to maintain contact with their children during smartphone use and their children's affect regulation.

Methods

The experiment consisted of two counterbalanced phases: the free play phase and the interruption phase, in which mothers were replying to standardized text messages in the presenc

SUBMITTER: Mikic A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12283988 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature