{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T10:49:07Z","timestamp":1777546147446,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,1]],"date-time":"2025-09-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756684800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Smartphones are gradually becoming surrogate attachment figures for people. This is particularly true for Left-Behind Children (LBC) in China, who, due to long-term separation from their parents, lack reliable and stable emotional support and thus turn to smartphones. The excessive digital dependency has led to nomophobia, which emphasizes the anxiety and discomfort people experience when they are temporarily unable to use or need to be separated from their mobile devices. Drawing from\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">the integrative hypothesis<\/jats:italic>\n                    of attachment theory, the research investigates how congruence and incongruence in parent-child attachment patterns influence LBC\u2019s nomophobia. Data were collected from 476 LBC (aged 11\u201315 years) in Sichuan Province. Polynomial regression with response surface analysis revealed two key findings. First, supporting\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">the additive model<\/jats:italic>\n                    , LBC with congruent higher levels of attachment to both parents exhibited lower levels of nomophobia compared with those with lower attachment levels. Second, in cases of incongruent attachment, higher maternal attachment was more effective in predicting lower levels of nomophobia than paternal attachment, confirming\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">the hierarchical model<\/jats:italic>\n                    . These findings highlight the crucial role of secure parental attachments in mitigating digital dependency among LBC and emphasize the particular importance of maternal attachment. The study suggests that strengthening remote parent\u2013child communication and providing comprehensive emotional support could help prevent nomophobia in LBC.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/21522715251363399","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,10]],"date-time":"2025-09-10T19:57:42Z","timestamp":1757534262000},"page":"630-635","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Smartphones as Surrogate Attachment: Examining Digital Dependency and Emotional Bonds Among Left-Behind Children in China"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"28","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-7549-057X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fang","family":"Yu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China."}]},{"given":"Kexin","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China."},{"name":"International Communication Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China."},{"name":"Center for Digital Communication Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China."}]},{"given":"Menmen","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China."}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_6_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/WNN.0b013e3181b7eabc"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2020.106351"},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_3_6_4_2","first-page":"60","article-title":"Research on the left-behind children in China","author":"Zhou F","year":"2006","unstructured":"Zhou F, , Duan C. 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