To disentangle the pathways of parent technology use, parent–child interactions, child screen time, and child psychosocial difficulties among disadvantaged families in Hong Kong.

Parents of 1254 3-year-old children from the KeySteps@JC project reported on the number of hours their children used electronic devices every day and evaluated their children's psychosocial behaviors using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. These parents also reported on their own digital device usage patterns and the frequency of parent–child interactions and provided sociodemographic data. Structural models were tested with parent technology use (independent variable), parent technological distractions and parent–child interactions and child screen time (mediators), child psychosocial problems (dependent variable), and children's age and sex and family socioeconomic status index (confounding variables).

Parent distraction with technology during parent–child interactions completely mediated the overall association between parent problematic digital technology use and child screen use duration. Parent problematic digital technology use was positively and directly associated with child psychosocial difficulties. In addition, it was indirectly related to child psychosocial difficulties through technological distractions and reductions in parent–child interactions and increased media use by children.

Higher parent digital technology usage was associated with reduced parent–child interactions and increased child screen time and psychosocial difficulties in disadvantaged families. These results suggest that limiting parents' use of electronic devices in front of their young children could be beneficial for childhood psychosocial development.