Parental burnout and children's short-form video and online game use: A specification curve and interpretable deep learning analysis

Parental burnout has many negative effects on both parents and their children; however, research on the relation between parental burnout and children's digital media use remains limited. This study aims to examine the robustness of the relation between parental burnout and children's short-form video and online game use. The study also examined the cross-sectional statistical mediating role of parental phubbing in the association between parental burnout and children's digital media use. Using cluster sampling, 34 schools in northern China were surveyed in September 2025, including 6020 elementary school students (Sample 1) and 5456 junior and senior high school students (Sample 2), along with their fathers or mothers. Specification curve analysis, path analysis, and explainable deep learning models, combined with SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis, were used to examine variable robustness, statistical mediation effects, and nonlinear relations among variables. In the sample of junior and senior high school students, parental burnout showed robust positive associations with children's short-form video and online game use, whereas these associations were not consistently robust in the elementary school sample. In addition, the associations between parental burnout and children's short-form video and online game use were weak in both samples (Median β = 0.030-0.070). Parental phubbing showed a cross-sectional statistical mediation effect in the associations between parental burnout and children's short-form video and online game use (Sample 1: B = 0.016-0.020; Sample 2: B = 0.014-0.041). Interpretable deep learning analysis suggested exploratory nonlinear associations among the significant paths identified in the structural equation models. This study provides an empirical reference for the prevention and intervention of children's excessive or problematic digital media use from a family perspective.