The mediating role of parenting attitudes in the relationship between parental technoference and parental burnout

Technological devices have begun to be widely used by providing convenience in many areas of daily life. However, the excessive and uncontrolled use of these devices may lead to negative consequences in individuals' interactions with their social environment. One such negative consequence, technoference is defined as the interruption of communication resulting from the use of technological devices during interaction. Within the family context, when a parent disrupts interaction with their child by using a technological device, this is referred to as parental technoference. In this regard, the present study aimed to examine the mediating role of parenting attitudes in the relationship between parental technoference and parental burnout. A total of 474 parents, consisting of 407 mothers and 67 fathers, participated in the study. In the data collection process, the Demographic Information Form, Parental Burnout Assessment, Parental Attitude Scale, and the Technology Interference in Life Examples Scale were utilized. As a result of the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Analysis conducted to determine the relationships among variables, a low-level positive and significant relationship was found between parental technoference and parental burnout. Additionally, a low-level negative and significant relationship was found between parental technoference and the democratic parenting attitude; a moderate-level positive and significant relationship was found with the authoritarian parenting attitude; and low-level positive and significant relationships were found with both the overprotective and permissive parenting attitudes. Alongside these results, an Independent Samples t-test was conducted to determine whether the levels of parental technoference significantly differed based on the variables of gender, marital status, and employment status. It was found that parental technoference did not significantly differ according to gender or marital status; however, it was found to be significantly higher in favor of working parents in terms of employment status. In order to determine whether the levels of parental technoference differed significantly based on variables such as the parent's age, educational level, number of children, child's age, most frequently used technological device, purpose of using technological devices, and duration of device usage, a One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed. According to the results, parental technoference did not differ significantly based on the parent's age, number of children, child's age, or most frequently used device; however, it was observed that it differed significantly based on educational level, purpose of using technological devices, and duration of device usage. Furthermore, a bootstrapping analysis was conducted to examine the mediating role of parenting attitudes in the relationship between parental technoference and parental burnout. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the democratic parenting attitude weakened this relationship, whereas the authoritarian and permissive parenting attitudes strengthened it. On the other hand, the overprotective parenting attitude was found not to have a significant mediating role.