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Parental favoritism and mobile phone addiction in Chinese adolescents: The role of sibling relationship and gender difference

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  • Zhao, Yunyan
  • Chen, Fumei
  • Yuan, Chunyong
  • Luo, Rui
  • Ma, Xinyu
  • Zhang, Cai

Abstract

Mobile phone addiction has raised increasing public concern in recent years, and researchers constantly demonstrated one of its factors as family risk. Parental favoritism, a common phenomenon in multiple-child family, is tightly linked to negative developmental outcomes, such as addiction and substance use, however, few studies have related it with mobile phone addiction. To investigate the underlying mechanism of parental favoritism and mobile phone addiction in Chinese adolescents, this study used the favoritism subscale of EMBU, Sibling Relationship Inventory, and Mobile Phone Addiction Index Scale, on 304 elementary school children and 303 junior school students (Mage = 12.56, SD = 1.17, 45.9% boys) from two-child families. Results suggest that parental favoritism can positively predict adolescents’ mobile phone addiction, which is further mediated by sibling hostility. Moreover, the mediating model is only significant in girls, but not in boys. That is, for girls, combination of both high paternal favoritism and maternal favoritism is associated with highest sibling hostility. To conclude, this study demonstrated the mechanism underlying the relationship between parental favoritism and adolescents’ mobile phone addiction and gender differences, contributing to the understanding of the complex mechanism between family dynamics and children’s developmental outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhao, Yunyan & Chen, Fumei & Yuan, Chunyong & Luo, Rui & Ma, Xinyu & Zhang, Cai, 2021. "Parental favoritism and mobile phone addiction in Chinese adolescents: The role of sibling relationship and gender difference," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:120:y:2021:i:c:s0190740920321885
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105766
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hye-Jin Kim & Jin-Young Min & Kyoung-Bok Min & Tae-Jin Lee & Seunghyun Yoo, 2018. "Relationship among family environment, self-control, friendship quality, and adolescents’ smartphone addiction in South Korea: Findings from nationwide data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Megan Gilligan & J. Jill Suitor & Seoyoun Kim & Karl Pillemer, 2013. "Differential Effects of Perceptions of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Favoritism on Sibling Tension in Adulthood," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 68(4), pages 593-598.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mengyao Shi & Xiangyu Zhai & Shiyuan Li & Yuqing Shi & Xiang Fan, 2021. "The Relationship between Physical Activity, Mobile Phone Addiction, and Irrational Procrastination in Chinese College Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-12, May.

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