The Impact of Parental Depression on Children’s Smartphone Addiction: A Serial Mediation Model With Parental Neglect and Children’s Self-Esteem

Abstract

The present study investigates the mechanisms underlying the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. It explores the effects of parental depression on children’s smartphone addiction, as well as the mediating roles of parental neglect and children’s self-esteem in this relationship, which multiplies sequentially. We utilize data—comprising 2,396 children and their parents—from the National General Survey on Korean Children, using parent–child dyads. First, a hierarchical regression analysis shows that parental depression significantly and positively predicts children’s smartphone addiction (B = .29, SE = .03, p < .001). Second, Hayes’s PROCESS macro (Model 6), executed to test the mediation effects, reveals that the effect of parental depression on children’s smartphone addiction is significantly mediated by parental neglect (B = .07, Boot SE = .01, 95% Boot CI [.05, .10]) and children’s self-esteem (B = .12, Boot SE = .01, 95% Boot CI [.10, .14]). Moreover, the serial mediation model’s results support that parental neglect and children’s self-esteem serially mediate the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction (B = .02, Boot SE = .004, 95% Boot CI [.01, .03]), implying that a higher level of parental depression is sequentially associated with increased parental neglect that reduces children’s self-esteem and consequently accelerates their smartphone dependence. The theoretical and practical implications of the results as well as the directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords

parental depression parental neglect children’s self-esteem children’s smartphone addiction serial mediation

Regarding the issues surrounding smartphone use, researchers have paid considerable attention to smartphone addiction, which is defined as an uncontrollable and problematic use of smartphones (Elhai et al., 2021; Gao et al., 2017). Excessive media usage is found to be related to numerous adverse influences, such as psychological and behavioral problems (Igarashi et al., 2008; Samaha & Hawi, 2016). Particularly, given that children and adolescents experience rapid physical growth but are less psychologically mature and lack self-control in comparison to adults (S. G. Kim et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019), they are especially vulnerable to addictive media use. Thus, a substantial body of research has addressed the negative outcomes of media addiction, such as anxiety, stress, or lower academic achievement, in children and adolescents (Abbasi et al., 2021; Al Battashi et al., 2020).

With the development of smartphone technologies, which provide a wide range of functions, including phone calls, social network services, and game and video applications, individuals can entertain themselves, maintain contact with others, and create and develop social relationships (Elhai et al., 2019; J. Park et al., 2021). Thus, individuals with psychological or emotional problems are more likely to use smartphones as a means to fulfill their social needs and escape from their difficulties. The desire to satisfy unmet needs through media use often leads to individuals becoming heavily dependent on media (Suler, 1999). Several studies have established that individuals with anxiety or low self-esteem use smartphones to escape from their psychological problems or seek social support (E. Kim & Koh, 2018; Murdock, 2013), both of which can eventually lead to smartphone addiction.

As risk factors for media addiction, parental or family influence has been receiving increased attention (Choo et al., 2015; Kwak et al., 2018). However, only a few studies have assessed the potential effects of parental psychological status on children’s problematic smartphone use. Given that depression tends to be transmitted from parents to their children (Langrock et al., 2002; Timko et al., 2008), children and adolescents with depressed parents may turn to smartphones to alleviate their negative feelings. Thus, parental depression may be an important element in understanding children’s smartphone addiction. Furthermore, the possible mediating mechanisms in the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction remain unexplored. Therefore, the present study examines whether parental depression is associated with children’s smartphone addiction and tests whether the association is mediated independently and sequentially by two potential mediators: parental neglect and children’s self-esteem.

We hypothesize the relationships between variables based on a literature review in the next section, which is followed by the Method, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion in the subsequent sections.

Literature Review

Parental Depression and Children’s Smartphone Addiction

Parental psychological problems are an obstacle in children’s psychological and behavioral development. In particular, parental depression is an important risk factor for child maladjustment (Kane & Garber, 2009; Langrock et al., 2002). Parents with symptoms of depression have been observed to display less engagement, have fewer positive interactions (Lovejoy, 1991; Woodruff-Borden et al., 2002), and more conflicts with their children (Conger et al., 1995). Therefore, children who grow up with depressed parents experience stress, which contributes to their development of psychological disorders (Beardslee et al., 1998); the likelihood of exhibiting inappropriate behaviors, such as aggression and oppositional defiant behaviors (Dette-Hagenmeyer & Reichle, 2014; Langrock et al., 2002), to deal with their stress is also heightened.

According to the social compensation theory, individuals with fewer off-line social supports are more inclined to use media to compensate for their weak social resources (Campbell et al., 2006; Mo et al., 2018). Such individuals with limited social support could use media to form connections with other individuals and obtain supportive communication (Mesch & Talmud, 2006), subsequently spending more time on media (Ybarra et al., 2005), which could lead to its problematic use (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014). Specifically, adolescents that lack parental support tend to use media excessively as a means to compensate for that lack of support (Tichon & Shapiro, 2003). A review of relevant research reveals that harmonious parent–adolescent interactions and positive parental support are found to be negatively associated with adolescents’ Internet addiction, whereas low perceived social support is positively associated with their Internet addiction (Li et al., 2014; Wartberg et al., 2017; Xu et al., 2014). Other recent studies have found similar causal relationships between parental depression and adolescents’ excessive media use (Lam, 2015; S. Park et al., 2018).

Regarding the association between parental depression and children’s self-regulation, children with depressed parents have difficulties regulating themselves (Zuckerman et al., 1990). Moreover, prior research has found that deficits in emotional regulation are positively linked with Internet addiction (Karaer & Akdemir, 2019). Thus, children whose parents are depressed may be vulnerable to smartphone addiction. Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: Parental depression will be positively related to children’s smartphone addiction.

Mediating Role of Parental Neglect Between Parental Depression and Children’s Smartphone Addiction

Depressed parents tend to put their children at risk based on the exposure to negative parenting behavior; because of their reduced energy and a lack of concentration toward their children (Lovejoy et al., 2000), they are likely to exhibit lower responsiveness or less attentiveness toward their children (Dix & Meunier, 2009). Additionally, depressed parents have been observed to display less warmth and low emotional involvement toward their children, even avoid interactions with them (Jaser et al., 2005; Valdez et al., 2013; Whitbeck et al., 1992), all of which ultimately lead to indifferent parenting behaviors. A substantial body of research has documented that parental depression is the predictor of parental neglect (Dix & Meunier, 2009), which is referred to as the failure of parents or caregivers to satisfy and attend to their children’s basic needs (Dubowitz et al., 1993).

Children raised in negative parenting environments tend to manifest addictive media use. Insufficient emotional warmth and rejection, and overprotective or intrusive parenting behaviors increase the risk of problematic media use (Sela et al., 2020; Xiuqin et al., 2010). Furthermore, research has documented the effects of parental neglect on children’s overdependence on media use. For instance, Davis (2001) found that adolescents with insufficient parental attention show mentally unstable behaviors and tend to use the Internet or smartphones addictively as a way to escape from their negative moods. Similarly, Kwak et al. (2018) revealed that parental neglect is significantly linked with adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Moreover, the parent–child relationship mediates the effect of parental phubbing, which is considered to be a form of neglect or exclusion (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, 2016), on adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use (Niu et al., 2020). Based on the abovementioned literature review, we expect that parental depression is positively linked with parental neglect, which, in turn, is positively associated with smartphone addiction. Thus, we posit the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2: Parental neglect will mediate the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction.

Mediating Role of Children’s Self-Esteem Between Parental Depression and Children’s Smartphone Addiction

As adolescents interact with familial members, they develop a positive self-concept (Plunkett et al., 2007). However, because depressed parents are likely to have negative interactions with their children (Lovejoy, 1991), children who grow up with such parents may find it difficult to develop self-esteem. According to Krug et al.’s (2016) study, children with depressed parents are more likely to have low self-worth; moreover, children whose parents have depressed moods tend to be at an increased risk of depression (Biederman et al., 2001; Langrock et al., 2002), which adversely affects their self-concept and reduces their self-esteem (Shahar & Davidson, 2003). These findings suggest that parental depression may impede the development of children’s self-esteem.

Individuals who suffer from psychological problems are likely to seek compensatory components, such as media, to alleviate their negative feelings, which results in media overuse (Bargh & Mckenna, 2004; E. Kim & Koh, 2018). The literature suggests that individuals with poor self-esteem are likely to consider themselves to be unworthy, and lack confidence (Owens, 1993; Rosenberg, 1979); to compensate for the deficiency in their self-esteem, they tend to use media, which influences them to spend more time on social networking sites and promotes problematic Internet use (Ho et al., 2017; Shi et al., 2017). Considerable evidence has been accumulated on the positive association between low self-esteem and media addiction among children and adolescents (Servidio et al., 2018). For example, Leung (2008) revealed that teenagers and young adults who have a negative view of themselves have reported problematic mobile phone use. Furthermore, adolescents’ positive view of themselves plays a mediating role in the influence of the parent–adolescent relationship on adolescents’ Internet addiction (Huang et al., 2019). Based on research findings, it is reasonable to suggest the mediating role of children’s self-esteem in the effect of parental depression on children’s smartphone addiction. We, therefore, propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3: Children’s self-esteem will mediate the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction.

Serial Mediating Roles of Parental Neglect and Children’s Self-Esteem Between Parental Depression and Children’s Smartphone Addiction

As discussed above, parental depression is related to parental neglect, and both, parental neglect and children’s self-esteem, are associated with children’s smartphone addiction. Therefore, the present study proposes an integrated mediation model, wherein parental neglect and children’s self-esteem play mediating roles on the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. Additionally, parents’ inability to satisfy their children’s basic needs and provide adequate care for them decreases their children’s self-esteem (Egeland et al., 1983). Youths with neglectful parents do not receive parental attention, which is necessary for developing self-worth (J. Kim & Cicchetti, 2006). Lynch and Cicchetti’s (1998) results showed that children who experience parental neglect are likely to develop low self-esteem. Furthermore, familial affective involvement has been found to mediate the association between parental depression and children’s self-esteem (Krug et al., 2016); children’s low self-esteem mediates the relationship between warm parenting behaviors and children’s Internet addiction (Yao et al., 2014). Based on such literature review, it is reasonable to suggest that parental depression leads to a high level of parental neglect, which is related to children’s weak self-esteem and thus results in addictive smartphone use. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 4: Parental neglect and children’s self-esteem will serially mediate the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction.

Method

Data

The data analyzed in the present study were secondary data derived from the National General Survey on Korean Children, conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) between January to February 2019 based on child–parent dyads. This survey was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the KIHASA.

The participants were randomly sampled from the 150 clusters that were extracted from 17 metropolitan cities and provinces (including large city, small city, and county area) based on probability proportional to size sampling. Trained interviewers conducted the survey using Tablet PC-Assisted Personal Interviewing after obtaining informed consent from all the individuals who agreed to participate in the survey. A total of 2,510 child–parent dyads responded to this survey. After screening the data, the study excluded respondents with missing values and/or missing information for some of the survey items. The final sample utilized in the present study’s analyses included 2,396 children and their parents. Of the children, 1,286 (53.7%) were boys and 1,110 (46.3%) were girls; 1.3% were in the second grade (n = 31), 8.8% were in the third (n = 210), 10.5% were in the fourth (n = 252), 9.5% were in the fifth (n = 227), 8.1% were in the sixth (n = 194), 8.7% were in the seventh (n = 208), 9.8% were in the eighth (n = 236), 11.3% were in the ninth (n = 271), 13.1% were in the 10th grade (n = 315), 16.6% were in the 11th (n = 398), and 2.3% were in the 12th grades (n = 54). Of the parents, 88.9% (n = 2,130) were mothers and 11.1% (n = 266) were fathers (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Participant Frequencies.

Sociodemographic Variables	Frequency (%)
Parents’ gender
Female	2,130 (88.9)
Male	266 (11.1)
Children’s gender
Female	1,110 (46.3)
Male	1,286 (53.7)
Children’s grade
2th	31 (1.3)
3th	210 (8.8)
4th	252 (10.5)
5th	227 (9.5)
6th	194 (8.1)
7th	208 (8.7)
8th	236 (9.8)
9th	271 (11.3)
10th	315 (13.1)
11th	398 (16.6)
12th	54 (2.3)

Measurements

Parental depression

The Korean version of the 11 items developed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Cho & Kim, 1993) was used to evaluate depressive disorders of parents (e.g., “During the past week, I felt depressed”). The respondents rated each item on a 4-point Likert-type scale, with values ranging from 1 (rarely) to 4 (very frequently). Two opposite direction items (e.g., “During the past week, I enjoyed life”) were reverse coded. Higher scores indicate a higher level of depression (M = 1.50, SD = .48, Cronbach’s α = .88).

Parental neglect

This was measured using the Parent–Child Conflict Scale (Straus et al., 1998), a parental self-rated questionnaire consisting of five items (e.g., “I left my child at home alone, even when I thought some adult should be with my child”). The respondents rated each item on a 7-point Likert-type scale, with values ranging from 1 (never) to 7 (more than once a week). Higher scores indicate a higher level of parental neglect (M = 1.61, SD = .97, Cronbach’s α = .80).

Children’s self-esteem

This was measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), which includes 10 general statements assessing the degree of self-esteem: five positive (e.g., “I feel that I have a number of good qualities”) and five negative (e.g., “Sometimes, I feel that I am a worthless person”) items. The respondents rated each item on a 4-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). Negative statements were reverse coded, and the overall score for children’s self-esteem was created by calculating the mean of the items. Higher scores imply higher self-esteem (M = 2.85, SD = .41, Cronbach’s α = .76).

Children’s smartphone addiction

This was measured using the Smartphone Overdependence Scale (National Information Society Agency, 2018), based on the Korean Smartphone Addiction Scale (National Information Society Agency, 2011), which is designed to assess pathological dependency and smartphone addiction criteria. Its scale contains a 10-item instrument (e.g., “I continue to use my smartphone, despite my intention to stop”). The respondents answered each item on a 4-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much). Higher scores indicate a stronger smartphone addiction in children (M = 2.08, SD = .64, Cronbach’s α = .93). Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics and reliability coefficients of the items for the key variables.

Table 2.

Descriptive Statistics and Reliability Coefficients of the Items for the Key Variables.

Items	Mean (SD)	α
Parental depression	1.50 (0.48)	.88
During the past week:
I felt depressed	1.40 (0.66)
I felt difficulties for all things	1.53 (0.73)
I felt lonely	1.38 (0.65)
I did not feel like eating, my appetite was poor	1.41 (0.63)
I was doing relatively well*	1.70 (0.86)
My sleep was restless	1.55 (0.70)
I enjoyed life*	2.10 (1.06)
I felt sad	1.36 (0.63)
I felt that people disliked me	1.29 (0.57)
I felt that people were cold toward me	1.34 (0.64)
I could not get “going”	1.41 (0.66)
Parental neglect	1.61 (0.97)	.80
I left my child at home alone, even when I thought some adult should be with my child	2.30 (1.90)
I did not care if my child missed a meal	1.92 (1.60)
I did not seek medical attention when my child was sick	1.36 (0.97)
I had trouble taking care of my child because I was drunk with alcohol or on drugs	1.23 (0.83)
I did not provide my child with clothing suitable for the season	1.25 (0.85)
Children’s self-esteem	2.85 (0.41)	.76
I feel that I have a number of good qualities	2.97 (0.67)
I feel that I am a worthy person	3.03 (0.52)
I can do anything as well as others can	2.94 (0.67)
I have a positive attitude toward myself	2.98 (0.63)
I am generally happy with myself	2.89 (0.66)
I generally feel that I am a failure in life*	2.86 (0.86)
I feel that I do not have anything to be proud of*	2.82 (0.83)
Sometimes, I feel that I am a worthless person*	2.95 (0.85)
Sometimes, I think that I am not competent*	2.79 (0.83)
I wish I had more respect for myself*	2.24 (0.71)
Children’s smartphone addiction	2.08 (0.64)	.93
I have tried to reduce the amount of time I spend on my smartphone and have failed	2.21 (0.76)
I have difficulty controlling or reducing my smartphone use	2.21 (0.87)
Once I begin to use the smartphone, I spend more time than I expected	2.25 (0.86)
If my smartphone is next to me, I find it difficult to concentrate on my work	2.20 (0.85)
I become preoccupied with the thought of using a smartphone	2.06 (0.81)
Even when I am not using the smartphone, I think about it	2.14 (0.85)
My health (e.g., eye or other body parts) often declines due to smartphone use	1.93 (0.82)
I have got into trouble with my parents because of my smartphone use	1.94 (0.81)
I often have a fight with my friends due to smartphone use	1.88 (0.79)
My smartphone use creates problems for me in my school life or activities	1.95 (0.78)

Note. An asterisk (*) indicates a reverse-coded item.

Sociodemographic variables

The gender (male, female) of the parents and children, as well as the children’s grade levels (from 2nd to 12th grade) were correlated with their media addiction, as reported by the participants (Soh et al., 2018; Venkatesh et al., 2019). Thus, the present study included these variables as covariates in the statistical analyses.

Analyses

We first calculated a Pearson correlation to examine the relationships between the research variables. Thereafter, we performed a hierarchical linear regression analysis, using the SPSS Version 20.0 software to test the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction (Hypothesis 1). Additionally, we used Hayes’s (2013) PROCESS macro (Model 6) to examine the mediating effects of parental neglect and children’s self-esteem on the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction (Hypotheses 2, 3, and 4). This approach involves bootstrapping analysis and can thus help us analyze the direct and indirect effects of repeated sampling from our data set and estimate models in each resample. The present study generated 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals (CI) based on 5,000 bootstrap samples. A nonparametric method, such as bootstrapping analysis, is ideally suited for processing nonlinear data because it does not require assumptions about distributions (Hayes & Preacher, 2010; Preacher et al., 2007). Although we used bootstrapping analysis in our study, we checked some linear regression model assumptions, including linearity, homoscedasticity, normality, and independence, by using scatterplots of standardized predicted values, normal P–P plots, normal Q–Q plots of standardized residuals, and Durbin–Watson values. Furthermore, we assessed multicollinearity using variance inflation factor (VIF) values.

Results

Preliminary Analyses

Before running the main analyses, we conducted preliminary analyses to test the assumptions of the linear regression model. First, our findings indicated that the linearity, normality, homoscedasticity, and independence of our data are approximately fulfilled. Second, the VIF values ranged from 1.00 to 1.23 (less than 10), indicating that multicollinearity is not a concern. Third, Figure 1 shows the scatterplots of the correlations between variables and establishes the presence of linear relationships between them. Altogether, the findings showed that there were no major violations of the assumptions of the linear regression model.

Figure 1.

Scatter plots between variables. Note. PD = parental depression; PN = parental neglect; CSE = children’s self-esteem; CSA = children’s smartphone addiction.

Next, we calculated Pearson’s zero-order correlations for research variables (see Table 3). All variables significantly correlated with one another. Specifically, parental depression (r = .22, p < .01) and parental neglect (r = .25, p < .01) positively correlated with children’s smartphone addiction, whereas children’s self-esteem negatively correlated with their smartphone addiction (r = −.41, p < .01).

Table 3.

Zero-Order Correlations Between All Variables in the Model.

Research Variables	1	2	3	4
1. Parental depression	1
2. Parental neglect	0.37**	1
3. Children’s self-esteem	−0.29**	−0.21**	1
4. Children’s smartphone addiction	0.22**	0.25**	−0.41**	1

**p < .01.

Hypotheses Testing

Hypothesis 1 postulated that parental depression would be positively related to children’s smartphone addiction. As shown in Table 4, parental depression positively affects children’s smartphone addiction (B = .29, SE = .03, p < .001). Thus, Hypothesis 1 was supported. The more depressed parents felt, the more their children were addicted to smartphone use.

Table 4.

Hierarchical Regression of the Relationship Between Parental Depression and Children’s Smartphone Addiction.

Predictors	Step 1			Step 2
Predictors	B (SE)	β	t	B (SE)	β	t
Children’s gender (male = 1)	−.11 (.03)	−.08	−4.04***	−.11 (.03)	−.09	−4.34***
Children’s grade (second grade = 1)	.02 (.01)	.07	3.39***	.01 (.01)	.04	1.90
Parental gender (father = 1)	−.06 (.04)	−.03	−1.47	−.07 (.04)	−.04	−1.78
Parental depression				.29 (.03)	.22	10.91***
ΔR²	.01			.05
F	10.00***			37.65***

***p < .001.

Hypothesis 2 posited that parental neglect would mediate the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. As shown in Figure 2 and Table 5, after controlling for the covariates, parental depression was positively associated with parental neglect (B = .75, SE = .04, 95% CI [.67, .83]), which in turn was positively related to children’s smartphone addiction (B = .10, SE = .01, 95% CI [.07, .12]). The residual direct effect was also significant (B = .08, SE = .03, 95% CI [.03, .13]). Parental neglect, therefore, played a partial mediating role in the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction (B = .07, Boot SE = .01, 95% Boot CI [.05, .10]), thereby supporting Hypothesis 2.

Figure 2.

Unstandardized path coefficients for serial multiple mediation. Note. PD = parental depression; PN = parental neglect; CSE = children’s self-esteem; CSA = children’s smartphone addiction. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Table 5.

Total, Direct, and Indirect Effects.

Effects	CSA Outcomes as Criterion
Effects	B	SE	t	[LLCI, ULCI]
Total effect of PD on CSA	.29	.03	10.91	[.24, .35]
Direct effect of PD on CSA	.08	.03	2.93	[.03, .13]
Indirect effects of PD on CSA	B	Boot SE		Boot [LLCI, ULCI]
Total indirect effect of PD on CSA	.21	.02		[.18, .24]
Indirect Effect 1: PD → PN → CSA	.07	.01	—	[.05, .10]
Indirect Effect 2: PD → CSE → CSA	.12	.01	—	[.10, .14]
Indirect Effect 3: PD →PN → CSE →CSA	.02	.004	—	[.01, .03]

Note. Covariates including parents’ gender, children’s grade and gender were entered simultaneously with all other variables but are not reported here. Number of bootstrap samples for bias corrected bootstrap confidence intervals = 5,000. The level of confidence for all confidence intervals = 95. All covariates were controlled. PD = parental depression; PN = parental neglect; CSE = children’s self-esteem; CSA = children’s smartphone addiction.

Hypothesis 3 posited that children’s self-esteem would mediate the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. The results showed that parental depression is negatively associated with children’s self-esteem (B = −.21, SE = .02, 95% CI [−.24, −.17]), and self-esteem is negatively related to children’s smartphone addiction (B = −.57, SE = .03, 95% CI [−.62, −.51]). That is, the higher the parents’ depression, the lower the children’s self-esteem and higher their smartphone addiction. The residual direct effect was also significant as reported above. The children’s self-esteem, therefore, played a partial mediating role in the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction (B = .12, Boot SE = .01, 95% Boot CI [.10, .14]), thus supporting Hypothesis 3.

Hypothesis 4 suggested that parental neglect and children’s self-esteem would serially mediate the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. As reported above, after controlling for the covariates, parental depression was positively related to parental neglect, which in turn was negatively related to children’s self-esteem (B = −.05, SE = .01, 95% CI [−.07, −.03]), and their smartphone addiction. Parental depression, through increased parental neglect, decreased children’s self-esteem, which subsequently increased their smartphone addiction (B = .02, Boot SE = .004, 95% Boot CI [.01, .03]), thereby supporting Hypothesis 4. The total indirect effect was .21 (Boot SE = .02, 95% Boot CI [.18, .24]).

Discussion

The present study examined the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction, along with the mediating roles of parental neglect and children’s self-esteem in this relationship. First, the results supported the hypothesis that parental depression positively relates to children’s smartphone addiction. This result is consistent with the findings of previous studies that have reported a positive relationship between parental depression and children’s television or Internet overuse (Lam, 2015; S. Park et al., 2018). Given that depressed parents display unsupportive behaviors toward their children (Lovejoy, 1991), and that low familial and parental support increase children’s depression (Calandri et al., 2019), children whose parents are depressed are more likely to experience depression (Biederman et al., 2001; Langrock et al., 2002). Furthermore, because children do not have the skills to deal with mental health problems yet, those who grow up with depressed parents tend to seek refuge in media to alleviate or escape from their distress (Lam, 2020), which could result in the excessive use of smartphones.

The present study also confirmed three mediating pathways from parental depression to children’s smartphone addiction, through parental neglect and children’s self-esteem. First, the mediation analysis showed that parental neglect mediates the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. Parental depression leads to high levels of parental neglect (Epkins & Harper, 2016), which in turn triggers excessive smartphone use (Kwak et al., 2018; Sun et al., 2019). As depressed parents tend to exhibit neglectful parenting behaviors, children who grow up in such environments may use smartphones to compensate for parental indifference and inattention, both of which promote overreliance on media use (Wang & Qi, 2017). The present study reveals that children who have suffered from indifference and neglect from depressed parents may have a higher chance of problematic smartphone use.

Additionally, the present study found that children’s self-esteem mediates the link between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. Children with depressed parents are likely to have negative perceptions of themselves (Krug et al., 2016). Moreover, children with low self-esteem prefer online communications, rather than face-to-face interactions (Yea & Kim, 2003), and tend to spend more time on smartphones, which, in turn, leads to excessive smartphone use (Leung, 2008). This finding is similar to those in previous research, which demonstrated the mediating effect of adolescents’ positive self-concept between parent–adolescent relationships and adolescent Internet addiction (Huang et al., 2019). Our study suggests that children with poor self-esteem due to low parental support from depressed parents could get addicted to smartphone use.

Finally, the present study found the serial mediation roles of parental neglect and children’s self-esteem in the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. In other words, depressed parents tend to exhibit lower responsiveness or less attentiveness toward children (Dix & Meunier, 2009), which leads to increased parental neglect. Moreover, because children raised by neglectful parents do not receive sufficient parental attention, which is necessary for the development of self-worth (J. Kim & Cicchetti, 2006), neglectful parenting behaviors could impede the development of children’s self-esteem. Subsequently, low self-esteem leads to a higher risk of smartphone addiction in children. The present study’s findings suggest that parental neglect and children’s self-esteem sequentially mediate the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction.

The present study revealed that parental depression has a direct effect on children’s smartphone addiction, and the effect of parental depression on children’s smartphone addiction is multiplied and serially mediated by parental neglect and children’s self-esteem. The findings herein have meaningful implications not only from a theoretical viewpoint but also from an applied perspective. First, previous studies have mainly focused on parental factors, such as parent–child closeness, parent–child relationship, or psychological abuse, as predictors of children’s video game, mobile, or smartphone addiction (Choo et al., 2015; Niu et al., 2020; Sun et al., 2019). The current study raises the possibility that parental depression may be an important risk factor that contributes to the development of children’s smartphone addiction. In other words, the present study contributes to the existing literature regarding risk factors of children’s smartphone addiction by demonstrating the causal association between parental depression and children’s problematic smartphone use.

The current study proposed three mediating mechanisms—two separated mediations and a serial mediation process—and found that parental neglect and children’s self-esteem individually and sequentially mediate the association between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. That is, the present research identified the independent mediating roles of parental neglect and children’s self-esteem as well as the combined mediating effects of the two mediators in the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to extend mediational factors, such as parenting behaviors and children’s psychological status, to account for the association between parental depression and children’s media use. Therefore, the present study could offer a novel and deep insight into the mechanism of how parental psychological status affects children’s media addiction.

The findings herein also have practical implications. The results suggest that children’s smartphone addiction might be a problem related to familial members, and thus family-centered treatment and interventions should be considered to prevent children’s problematic smartphone use. For example, parents need to be educated about the potential problems of parental depression and negative parenting behaviors. Furthermore, educators and counselors should develop interventions for creating warm environments and relieving family members’ psychological problems. Interventions and educational programs that simultaneously consider the two mediators proposed herein also need to be implemented.

Nevertheless, the current study has several limitations. As it is based on a sample of South Korean children and their parents, further studies need to consider other cultural samples or geographic areas. Additionally, it is unable to consider several important variables because of data availability. For example, the association between parental depression and children’s externalizing symptoms is mediated by parent–child conflicts (Kane & Garber, 2009). Future studies can explore other possible mediators or moderators and employ a more solid research design and longitudinal data.

Conclusion

The present study summarily demonstrates that parental depression has an impact on children’s smartphone addiction. This study is the first to establish the possibility that parental depression is a new risk factor of children’s smartphone addiction. Additionally, the present study indicates that neglectful parenting and children’s self-esteem play mediating roles in the relationship between parental depression and children’s smartphone addiction independently and serially, which provides an elaborate understanding of how parental depression is related to children’s smartphone addiction. These findings highlight that it may be crucial to consider parents’ mental health and parenting behavior as well as children’s self-esteem when assessing children’s smartphone addiction and planning a preventive intervention.

Footnotes

Authors’ Note

All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Data Availability

The data used and/or analyzed during the current study are available upon request to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA; ).

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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