Prior research shows that parents' phubbing has negative impacts on children's well-being. The aim of our study was to explore the relationship between father phubbing (FPh) and adolescents' depressive symptoms, the mediating and moderating mechanisms in this relationship. That is, whether FPh would be positively related to adolescents' depressive symptoms, whether perceived father acceptance (PFA) would be a mediator between the relationship of FPh and adolescents' depressive symptoms, and whether adolescent resilience would be a moderator in the pathways of FPh on adolescents' depressive symptoms. In this study, 3,770 Chinese adolescents (M = 16.44 years, SD = 0.78) were surveyed about their demographics, FPh, depressive symptoms, PFA, and resilience through questionnaires. After controlling for demographic information, the results showed that (1) FPh was positively correlated with depressive symptoms; (2) PFA was a mediator between FPh and adolescents' depressive symptoms; (3) resilience moderated the two indirect paths that the relationships between FPh and PFA and the relationship between PFA and adolescents' depressive symptoms. Our study shows that FPh is positively correlated with adolescents' depressive symptoms, which is of great significance to the theoretical construction and intervention of adolescents' depressive symptoms in this digital era.
Keywords: Father phubbing; adolescents; depressive symptoms; perceived father acceptance; resilience.