Effect Of Maternal Mobile Device Use On Children’s Social Emotional Ability:Role Of Parent-child Attachment And Technical Interference

Along with the development of the Internet,mobile phones,computers,tablets and other devices in more and more applied in people’s lives.Children who born after 2010 are almost entirely digital natives.In parent-child interaction,how does the time spent on the device affect the child? How do these effects come about? There are 3 theories in previous studies:attachment theory,the displacement hypothesis and actor partner interdependence modeling.In general,previous studies believe that the longer maternal mobile device use,the more detrimental to the development of children’s social emotional ability.The duration of maternal mobile device use has an impact on children through influencing parent-child attachment.However,in recent years,some scholars believe that different activities or different feedback to children when mothers using mobile devices will have different influences on children’s social emotional ability.Based on the above questions,this study adopts a combination of quantitative research and qualitative research--questionnaire measurement and interview method--to study the relationship between maternal mobile device use and children’s social emotional ability.Study 1 measured 301 children in 13 kindergartens in Hebei Province,utilizing the questionnaire survey method,with Attachment Insecurity Screening Inventory,Children’s Emotional Adjustment Scale Preschool Version,Maternal Mobile Device Use Time Scale and the Technoference Scale.The moderating effect of technology interference on the relationship between maternal mobile device use time and children’s social emotional ability and the mediating role of parent-child attachment were investigated.The results showed that:(1)children’s social emotional ability was positively correlated with parent-child attachment;(2)Parent-child attachment was significantly negatively correlated with the maternal mobile device use time;(3)Parent-child attachment was significantly negatively correlated with technology interference;(4)Parent-child attachment plays an indirect role in the influence of maternal mobile device use time and children’s social emotional ability.In Study 2,21 mothers of infants in Hebei Province were interviewed about the influence of the maternal mobile device use on their infants’ social emotional ability,using the interview method.They were divided into three groups—the short group,the middle group and the long group--according to the duration of maternal mobile device use.The results showed that:(1)It suggests that mothers tend to overestimate the negative effects of mobile device use on children’s development of social emotional ability;(2)Mothers with different use time had different types of emotional cognition of mobile devices.;(3)When the mother uses the mobile device for work,the influence of the device on the children decreases,and when the mother uses the mobile device for entertainment,the influence on the children increases.The interview basically verified the model of Study 1.In general,this paper enriches the research content related to maternal mobile device use,and provides a theoretical reference for the use of mobile devices at home and school and the development direction of mobile devices.