702 - The relationship between maternal smartphone addiction and toddler mobile device use: Does parenting matter?

Publication Number: 702.6614

Darcy Thompson, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States; Sarah Schmiege, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States; Laura K. Kaizer, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States; Haley Ringwood, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, CO, United States; Estefania Miramontes Valdes, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States; Andrea Jimenez-Zambrano, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States; Lauren Clark, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Natasha J. Cabrera, UMD, College Park, MD, United States

Background: Children start using mobile devices in the 1st few years of life, placing them at risk for poor developmental outcomes. Maternal smartphone addiction is a risk factor for increased mobile device use in children. Whether the parenting practice of using mobile devices to regulate toddler behaviors (e.g., to calm or occupy a toddler) is a mechanism for the relationship between maternal smartphone addiction and toddler mobile device use is unknown.

Objective: To evaluate whether maternal behavioral regulation with mobile devices mediates the relationship between maternal smartphone addiction risk and toddler mobile device use.

Design/Methods: Data were used from a cross-sectional study of Mexican American families with toddlers (15-26 months old) recruited from a safety net health system. Mothers reported on their smartphone addiction risk (Smartphone Addiction Scale–Short Version, 10 items, α= .85) and their use of mobile devices for toddler behavior regulation (16-item scale, α= .88). Mothers completed a 7-day toddler screen use diary, used to calculate average daily minutes of mobile device use. Toddler mobile device use was regressed on smartphone addiction risk to establish the direct effect (c path in Fig. 1), and then regressed on both maternal behavioral regulation and smartphone addiction risk to establish the association of the mediator to the outcome (b path, Fig.1) over and above the impact of smartphone addiction risk (c’ path, Fig. 1). A final model regressed behavioral regulation on smartphone addiction risk (a path, Fig. 1). The mediated effect was estimated as the product of the a*b coefficients.

Results: Sample characteristics are shown in Table 1. Model results are in Figure 1. There was a direct association between maternal smartphone addiction risk and toddler average daily minutes of mobile device use (c path: p < 0.004) that was no longer significant when behavioral regulation was added to the model (c’ path: NS). The relationship of the behavioral regulation mediator to toddler mobile device use was significant (b path: p <.001) and there was an association from maternal smartphone addiction risk to behavioral regulation (a path: p <.001). The mediated effect was 0.70 and was statistically significant (z=4.02, p< .001).

Conclusion(s): Parent use of mobile devices for toddler behavior regulation serves as a mediator for the intergenerational transmission pathway from maternal smartphone addiction risk to toddler mobile device use. Addressing both maternal smartphone addiction risk and screen-related parenting may be needed to reduce toddler mobile device use.

Funding: Research reported in this abstract was supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01NR017605 (PI: Thompson). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Table 1: Demographic characteristics of Mexican American mother-toddler dyads recruited from a safety net health system (n=304) 


Figure 1: Relationships between maternal smartphone addiction risk, behavioral regulation with mobile devices, and toddler average daily minutes of mobile device use in Mexican American mother/toddler dyads (n=304) *p <.01, **p <.001​


Table 1: Demographic characteristics of Mexican American mother-toddler dyads recruited from a safety net health system (n=304) 


Figure 1: Relationships between maternal smartphone addiction risk, behavioral regulation with mobile devices, and toddler average daily minutes of mobile device use in Mexican American mother/toddler dyads (n=304) *p <.01, **p <.001​