Parenting, smartphone use and depression

This cross-sectional study examined whether parenting status is associated with smartphone use patterns, smartphone deprivation, loneliness, and depressive symptoms in Hungarian adults. The study tested whether adults without children report higher perceived and actual smartphone use, problematic smartphone use, deprivation, and depression than parents, and whether smartphone-related processes help explain this association. It also explored whether non-parents are more likely to report hedonic rather than utilitarian smartphone use, while interpreting all indirect associations as non-causal explanatory pathways.