Validation of a revised parental phubbing scale for parents of young children in China

To examine the reliability and validity of revised Parental Phubbing Scale (PPS) and measure the level of parental phubbing, 701 Chinese children aged 3-6 years and their parents were investigated. The results indicated that (1) the construct validity of the PPS was supported by the best-fit one-factor model; (2) concurrent validity was established by demonstrating that the PPS was positively related to parental smartphone addiction; (3) the PPS was positively correlated with authoritarian parenting style, established the predictive validity; (4) internal reliability was satisfactory. The results also showed that fathers' and mothers' phubbing were at the intermediate level; moreover, phubbing levels were highest among parents aged 31-40. The findings conclude that PPS can be used as a reliable and valid measure to evaluate parents' phubbing and also highlight the need for further research on mothers' and fathers' phubbing.