{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T16:30:11Z","timestamp":1787934611027,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,16]],"date-time":"2026-05-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1778889600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012226","name":"Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["CCNU24ZZ036"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CCNU24ZZ036"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012226","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study examined a moderated mediation model linking parental rejection and overprotection to smartphone addiction, with sense of security as a mediator and forgiveness as a moderator. A total of 730 students (mean age = 12.15 \u00b1 1.13 years; 50.7% female) were recruited from two primary and two secondary schools in Hunan, China, using cluster sampling by class, and all participants completed a set of self-report questionnaires. Results showed that, after controlling for gender and age, both parental rejection and overprotection were positively associated with smartphone addiction and negatively associated with sense of security and forgiveness. Sense of security partially mediated the links between negative parenting and smartphone addiction. Interpersonal forgiveness moderates the direct associations between parental rejection, overprotection and adolescent smartphone addiction, and self-forgiveness moderates the relationships between sense of security and smartphone addiction. The present study clarifies the associations between negative parenting behaviors (i.e., parental rejection and overprotection) and problematic smartphone use in early and middle adolescence, highlights the vital protective roles of security and forgiveness, and provides empirical evidence to inform the prevention and intervention strategies for adolescent smartphone addiction.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16050796","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T02:32:28Z","timestamp":1779676348000},"page":"796","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Parental Rejection, Overprotection and Adolescent Smartphone Addiction: Mediating Role of Sense of Security and Moderating Role of Forgiveness"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Wuyu","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China"},{"name":"School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kairu","family":"Xue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China"},{"name":"School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lu","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0340-8445","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fanchang","family":"Kong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China"},{"name":"School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, Wuhan 430079, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"513","DOI":"10.1177\/0143034315604017","article-title":"The relationships between perceived parenting style, learning motivation, friendship satisfaction, and the addictive use of smartphones with elementary school students of South Korea: Using multivariate latent growth modeling","volume":"36","author":"Bae","year":"2015","journal-title":"School Psychology International"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00986793","article-title":"Exploring self-forgiveness","volume":"31","author":"Bauer","year":"1992","journal-title":"Journal of Religion and Health"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"887","DOI":"10.2307\/1126611","article-title":"Effects of authoritative parental control on child behavior","volume":"37","author":"Baumrind","year":"1966","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"591","DOI":"10.1007\/s10567-021-00377-x","article-title":"A learning theory approach to attachment theory: Exploring clinical applications","volume":"25","author":"Bosmans","year":"2022","journal-title":"Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"261","DOI":"10.1002\/job.2632","article-title":"Conceptualizing forgiveness: A review and path forward","volume":"44","author":"Brady","year":"2023","journal-title":"Journal of Organizational Behavior"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5166","DOI":"10.1007\/s12144-019-00458-9","article-title":"Parental rejection and adolescent problematic mobile phone use: Mediating and moderating roles of school engagement and impulsivity","volume":"40","author":"Chen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Current Psychology"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Christou, A. 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