Scientists from the University of Calgary in Canada found a negative relationship between parental smartphone use and their children's mental health. The results of the study were published in JAMA Network Open, NOVA reported.
For the analysis, the team looked at data from over 1,000 Canadian children, and the data was collected from 2020 to 2022. Children were asked how they perceived their parents' use of smartphones and whether they felt annoyed by it. The children were also checked for symptoms of anxiety, depression and other mental disorders.
The study found that children aged 9 to 11 whose parents spent a lot of time on their smartphones were more likely to experience anxiety, hyperactivity and attention problems. This effect is called “technoference”, which means the intervention of technology in educational processes.
The results show that increased levels of anxiety in children are related to the fact that they perceive their parents to be overly distracted by smartphones. These children are more likely to suffer from attention problems and show symptoms of hyperactivity that are independent of the child's gender.
Researchers note that the age between 9-11 years is a sensitive period for children's brain development, making the influence of parental behavior particularly significant. However, the exact direction of the effect remains unclear: whether parents' behavior causes mental problems in children, or parents themselves resort to smartphones due to difficulties in upbringing.