ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Addictive Behaviors
The Impact of Family Parenting Styles on Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: The Mediating Role of Mobile Phone Addiction
Fang Sun
Ying Wang
LinHai maternal and child health Hospital, Taizhou, China
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Abstract
Objective: This study examined the relationships between parenting styles and behavioral-emotional problems in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), investigating mobile phone addiction as a potential mediating mechanism. Methods: A cross-sectional design was employed with 232 children diagnosed with ADHD (aged 6-17 years) and their parents. Participants completed the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham-IV (SNAP-IV) Rating Scale for ADHD symptoms, the Mobile Phone Addiction Self-Rating Scale, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) Brief Form, and the Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran (EMBU) Parenting Style Scale. Mediation analyses were conducted using Hayes' PROCESS macro with 5,000 bootstrap samples. Results: Negative parenting styles (rejection, overprotection) were significantly associated with increased behavioral-emotional problems (r = 0.41-0.56, P < 0.001), while positive parenting (emotional warmth) showed negative correlations (r = -0.38 to -0.36, P < 0.001). Mobile phone addiction partially mediated these relationships. The indirect effects were significant (negative parenting: ab = 0.22, 95% CI [0.14, 0.31], accounting for 32.4% of the total effect; positive parenting: ab = -0.16, 95% CI [-0.24, -0.09], accounting for 27.6% of the total effect). Conclusions: Mobile phone addiction serves as a significant mediator between parenting styles and behavioral-emotional problems in ADHD children. Interventions targeting both parenting practices and digital device management may be beneficial for improving outcomes in this population.
Summary
Keywords
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, emotional regulation, InternetAddiction Disorder, Parenting, Problem behavior
Received
21 October 2025
Accepted
03 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Sun and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Fang Sun
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