Parenting Stress and Level of Smart-phone use in Mothers of Multi-cultural Families: The Moderating Effects of Social Support

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of multi-cultural mothers' parenting stress on the level of smart-phone use and to examine the moderating effects of social support on the relations between parenting stress and level of smart-phone use. The study was conducted based on a survey of multi-cultural mothers with young children who attend child care centers or kindergartens located in C city. The participants were 182 multi-cultural mothers. The major results are as follows. The high risk group of smart-phone addiction are 12.9%. Parenting stress was a significant factor predicting the level of smart-phone use, and social support moderated the relations between parenting stress and level of smart-phone addiction. Especially, the peer support had significant moderating effects. In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest the need to implement preventive programs on smart phone addiction for multi-cultural mothers and to strengthen the social support for them at the individual, familial and community levels.