Configurations of Screen Use–Related Parenting Behaviors Among Chinese Parent Dyads of Preschool Children: Antecedents and Consequences

Screen use-related parenting behaviors are important predictors for the onset and development of children’s problematic screen use (PSU). However, the configurative patterns of these behaviors within parental dyads remain underexplored. It is also unclear how parents’ own screen use attitudes and behaviors may shape their screen-related parenting. This study identified profiles of maternal and paternal screen-related parenting practices in a representative sample of 3,290 Chinese parent-child dyads (44.95% girls, Mean child age = 5.34 years, SD = 1.47). We further examined children’s PSU levels across profiles and explored parental screen use attitudes and behaviors as antecedents. Latent profile analysis revealed five configurations: disengaged fathers and lax mothers, lax fathers and disengaged mothers, lax fathers and engaged mothers, dually lax parents and dually engaged parents. Children in the dually engaged parents profile showed the lowest PSU, whereas those in disengaged-related profiles showed related high levels of PSU. Moreover, supportive attitudes toward screen use served as a distinguishing feature between the disengaged-related profiles and lax-related profiles, while parental phubbing distinguished the engaged-related profiles from the lax-related profiles. Findings highlight the heterogeneity in screen-related parenting configurations. Joint efforts from both parents in screen use related parenting may maximize the reduction of children’s PSU.