Mother phubbing and harsh mothering: Mothers' irritability and adolescents' gender as moderators

While extant evidence supports the link between mother phubbing (Mphubbing) and harsh mothering, the current understanding of factors that may affect this relationship is limited. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the relation between Mphubbing and harsh mothering, as well as to explore whether mothers' irritability and adolescents' gender would moderate this relationship. The participants included 482 middle school students (51.7 % girls) and their mothers from China. The results revealed a significant positive association between Mphubbing as reported by adolescents and their perception of harsh mothering. However, the predictive power of Mphubbing for harsh mothering varied based on mothers' irritability and adolescents' gender. Specifically, the association between Mphubbing and harsh mothering was perceived more strongly in girls than in boys, but this gender difference was only observed among adolescents whose mothers rated themselves as high in irritability. The current study offers a preliminary understanding of the association between Mphubbing and harsh mothering through mothers' irritability and adolescents' gender as moderators, which has certain theoretical and practical implications for comprehending harsh mothering in the digital age. •A moderated model was formulated to reveal the relationship between mother phubbing, mothers’ irritability, adolescents’ gender, and harsh mothering.•The study examines the combined impact of environmental and individual factors on harsh mothering.•The association between Mphubbing and harsh mothering was perceived more strongly in girls than in boys, but this difference was only observed among adolescents whose mothers rated themselves high in irritability.