Child–Parent Relationship Therapy for Phubbing Symptoms in Primary School Children: A Quasi-Experimental Controlled Study

In the modern home, a familiar tension often plays out at the dinner table or during a family conversation. A parent or child reaches for a smartphone, and the attention that was once fully present shifts to the glowing screen. This behavior, known as phubbing, is not simply about how much time someone spends on a device, but about the moment that attention is pulled away from a person who is right there. It is a relational disruption, a signal that the digital world is taking precedence over the immediate human connection. For children in late primary school, a time when they are learning to navigate complex social rules and manage their own emotions, this pattern can become deeply ingrained. If a child learns that a phone is a reliable source of comfort or distraction, they may turn to it whenever a conversation becomes difficult or boring, potentially missing out on the chance to practice patience, empathy, and face-to-face problem-solving.

Researchers have long suspected that these habits are not formed in a vacuum but are shaped by the family environment. Children watch how their parents handle technology, and they react to the emotional climate of the home. When a parent is constantly distracted by a phone, a child may feel ignored, leading them to seek connection elsewhere, often in the very device that caused the distance. This creates a cycle where technology interferes with the very relationships that could help a child learn to use it wisely. The question facing psychologists is whether changing the way parents interact with their children can break this cycle. Specifically, can teaching parents to be more present and emotionally attuned help children stop relying on their phones to fill the gaps in their day?

A recent study set out to answer this question by testing a specific approach with thirty children aged ten to twelve who showed signs of frequent phone snubbing. The researchers worked with the children's mothers, not the children directly, because the parents are the ones who set the tone for family life. The mothers participated in a ten-week program called Child–Parent Relationship Therapy, which was adapted to address phone use. In this program, the mothers learned a set of skills centered on play and connection. They were taught to spend special time with their children where the child led the activity, to listen and reflect on the child's feelings without immediately trying to fix them, and to set clear, calm limits on behavior. Crucially, the program also asked mothers to model better behavior themselves, creating family rules that applied to everyone, including the adults. The goal was to replace the friction of phone-related arguments with a stronger sense of belonging and a predictable, warm connection.

The study compared the children of the mothers who completed this ten-week training against a group of children whose mothers were placed on a waiting list and did not receive the training during the study period. Before the program began, all the children filled out a questionnaire about their own phone habits, rating how often they felt anxious without their phone, how much their phone use caused arguments, how often they withdrew from people to be on their device, and whether they recognized their phone use as a problem. After the ten weeks, the children filled out the same questionnaire again. The results showed a clear difference between the two groups. The children whose mothers had gone through the training reported significantly fewer problems with phone snubbing. Their scores on the questionnaire dropped, indicating they felt less anxious about being disconnected, experienced fewer conflicts related to their phones, and were less likely to isolate themselves with their devices. In contrast, the children in the waiting group showed no such improvement; their scores actually increased slightly, suggesting that without the intervention, the tendency to rely on phones for connection or distraction continued or even grew.

The researchers found that the improvement was not limited to just one aspect of phone use. The children in the intervention group showed positive changes across all areas measured: their fear of being without a phone decreased, the arguments they had with others about phone use lessened, they spent less time withdrawing into their devices, and they were more aware of when their phone use was becoming a problem. The size of this improvement was substantial, with the average score for the intervention group dropping by more than seven points, while the control group's score rose. This suggests that when parents change their approach—offering focused attention, emotional understanding, and consistent boundaries rather than just taking the phone away—the children respond by relying less on the device to manage their feelings or fill their time.

However, the researchers are careful to note that this study offers a strong hint rather than a final proof. The study was relatively small, involving only thirty families, and the groups were not assigned randomly, which means there could be other factors at play that the researchers did not measure. For instance, the mothers who signed up for the program might have been more motivated to change their family dynamics than those who did not. Additionally, the children knew their mothers were in the program, so their answers might have been influenced by what they thought the researchers wanted to hear. The study also did not track whether these changes lasted over time or whether the children's actual screen time decreased, only that their feelings about their phone use improved.

Despite these limitations, the findings point to a promising direction. They suggest that the solution to a child's excessive phone use may not be found in stricter rules or confiscating devices, but in strengthening the relationship between parent and child. By teaching parents to be more present and emotionally available, the study indicates that children may naturally find less need to turn to their phones for attention or comfort. The results imply that the family relationship is a powerful lever for change, and that when the human connection is made secure and rewarding, the pull of the screen may weaken. While more rigorous research is needed to confirm these results and understand how long they last, this study provides a hopeful glimpse into how a shift in family interaction can help children navigate the digital world with greater balance and less conflict.