Maternal technoference and children's social withdrawal: Role of screen exposure and companionship

ABSTRACT Objective This study examines the impact of maternal “technoference” on children's social withdrawal, with screen exposure as a potential mediator and maternal companionship during screen time as a moderator of this mediation. Background Increasing availability of digital media has caused disruptions in communication and interaction, referred to as “technoference.” However, the underlying mechanisms and protective factors that mitigate the intergenerational effects of technoference in the Chinese context remain unexplored. Method This study included 785 preschoolers (50.2% boys) and their mothers from Anhui and Guangdong provinces. Mothers completed online questionnaires on technoference, companionship, demographics, children's screen time, and social withdrawal. Moderated mediation effects were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 27.0 with Macro Process Model 14. Results and conclusions Technoference was positively related to children's screen time. Screen time was positively associated with social withdrawal and mediated the effect of technoference on social withdrawal. Maternal companionship moderated the effect of screen time on social withdrawal and the indirect effect of technoference on social withdrawal through screen time, whereby the two effects are weaker when companionship is high. Implication Our findings highlight the significance of screen exposure duration and maternal companionship in developing interventions for Chinese mothers and children experiencing technoference.