Perceiving parents to be distracted by mobile phones and other technology during social and family interactions could impact the mental health of their children aged 9 to 11, according to a new Canadian study.
In fact, the researchers found that this parental “techno-difference” was associated with increased levels of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms later in children’s development.
“We hear a lot about screen time for children and adolescents in the media, but we often forget that parents also spend a lot of time on screens. In fact, previous research has shown that parents spend one in every three minutes with their children on a screen,” said Audrey-Anne Denault, PhD, assistant professor of social psychology at the University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and lead author of the study.
“We’ve all had those moments when we’re on the phone and don’t notice someone calling, or don’t notice something happening right in front of us,” she said. “That’s why we think it’s important to look at technoference. Parents who use screens are more likely to not notice when their kids need them.”
The study was published online August 16. JAMA Network Open.
Analysis of parental technoference
As part of the “All Our Families” study, Denault and her colleagues analyzed a cohort of Calgary mothers and 1,303 adolescents aged 9 to 11 years old, aiming to understand the longitudinal association between parental perceptions of interruption (or technoference) and children’s mental health.
Women were recruited during their pregnancies from May 2008 to December 2010. Adolescents were assessed three times in the study: at age 9 (2020), 10 (2021) and 11 (2021 and 2022). Mothers consented to their children’s participation, and children consented as well.
During the evaluation, adolescents completed questionnaires about their parents’ perceptions of technoference and about mental health symptoms such as anxiety, depression, inattention, and hyperactivity. The study focused on effect size rather than statistical significance.
Overall, higher levels of anxiety symptoms at ages 9 and 10 were positively associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference at ages 10 and 11. Effect sizes were small.
Furthermore, perceived high parental technoference at ages 9 and 10 was prospectively associated with higher hyperactivity at ages 10 and 11 and higher inattention at age 11. There were no significant differences by gender.
“Technoference and youth mental health are intricately intertwined, and we found that parents may be more involved in technoference if their adolescents have higher rates of anxiety,” Denault says. “This latter point highlights that parents may struggle if their adolescents are experiencing mental health issues.”
Consider healthy changes
Denault said the findings call for a multi-tiered approach where adolescents and their parents can receive support related to mental health concerns, technology use and healthy parent-child relationships.
“The main takeaway is that parental screen time matters and should be part of the discussion when thinking about child and adolescent mental health,” she said.
Future research should focus on the direction of the association between adolescent mental health and parental technoference, the underlying mechanisms, specific activities related to technoference, and across different age groups and developmental stages, the study authors wrote.
“As a society, we need to understand how parental technology use may or may not impact adolescent mental health,” said Dr. Nicole Letourneau, a research professor of pediatrics, psychiatry and community health sciences specializing in parent and child health at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Letourneau, who was not involved in the study, has studied the effects of parental technoference on parent-child relationships and children’s health and developmental outcomes. She and her colleagues have found that parents notice changes in their children’s behavior.
“Parental support is important for healthy development, and when parents are distracted by their devices they may miss important but subtle signs that young people are using to communicate their needs,” she said. “Given the alarming increase in mental health problems among young people, we need to understand the underlying contributing factors and provide ways to mitigate risks and promote young people’s mental health.”
Communication with parents should also be considered, for example, so providers can address the positive and negative aspects of technology use.
“There’s enough research that parents should be more concerned about how their own technology habits affect the well-being of their children and teens, but painting parents’ technology and smartphone habits in a blanket negative light may not be very fruitful,” said Brandon McDaniel, PhD, senior research scientist at Parkview Milo Research and Innovation Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
McDaniel, who was also not involved in the study, has studied the link between technoference and children’s behavioral problems, as well as parents’ desire to change their cell phone use. He noted that parents use their cell phones for positive reasons — to get support from others, to regulate their own emotions and to relieve stress — and that they can be more emotionally present with their children immediately after using their phones.
“Many parents already feel a great deal of guilt about using smartphones in the presence of their children,” he said. “Experts suggest addressing parental technology use by acknowledging their positive uses of technology while helping them identify areas of their tech habits that may be counterproductive to their own and their children’s health and mental health.”
The All Our Families study is supported by Alberta Innovates — Health Solutions Interdisciplinary Team Grants and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. The current analysis is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development COVID-19 grant, an Alberta Innovates grant, and Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships. Deneault, Letourneau, and McDaniel report no relevant financial relationships.
Carolyn Crist is a health and medical journalist who reports on the latest research for Medscape Medical News, MDedge, and WebMD.
