Peer-reviewed article
Maternal Loneliness and Technoference During Early Childhood: The Mediating Roles of Nomophobia and Social Media Addiction.
Prino LE, Scarzello D ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how maternal loneliness relates to technoference—the use of technology that interrupts mother-child interactions—during early childhood. The research found that loneliness does not directly cause technoference, but instead works through two intermediate factors: nomophobia (fear of being without a phone) and social media addiction. The study involved 355 Italian mothers of children aged 0-6 years who completed questionnaires about their loneliness, phone dependence, social media use, and technology interruptions during parenting.
Key points
- Maternal loneliness was positively associated with both nomophobia and social media addiction
- Nomophobia and social media addiction were both positively associated with technoference
- The direct association between loneliness and technoference became non-significant when nomophobia and social media addiction were included in the model
- Both indirect pathways (loneliness → nomophobia → technoference and loneliness → social media addiction → technoference) were statistically significant
- Technoference is understood as a relational phenomenon linked to psychological vulnerabilities rather than simply a consequence of technology use
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional study with self-reported measures, so causation cannot be established and reverse causality is possible. The sample consists only of Italian mothers, which may limit generalizability to other cultural or demographic contexts.
Abstract
Maternal technoference has increasingly been recognized as a factor that may compromise mothers' emotional availability and the quality of mother-child interactions, particularly during early childhood, when responsive caregiving and co-regulation play a pivotal role in children's development. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain poorly understood. Maternal loneliness may represent an important vulnerability factor, although the processes linking loneliness to technoference have yet to be clarified. This study examined whether nomophobia and social media addiction mediate the association between maternal loneliness and technoference. This cross-sectional study included 355 Italian mothers of children aged 0-6 years, who completed measures of loneliness (UCLA 3-item Loneliness Scale), nomophobia (NMP-Q), social media addiction (BSMAS), and technoference (DISRUPT). A parallel mediation model was tested while controlling for maternal age. Loneliness was positively associated with both nomophobia and social media addiction, which were, in turn, positively associated with technoference. Both indirect effects were significant, whereas the direct association between loneliness and technoference was no longer significant. These findings suggest that maternal loneliness may be associated with technoference through its link with nomophobia and social media addiction, highlighting the importance of understanding technoference as a relational phenomenon rather than merely a consequence of technology use.