Difficulties in children's self-regulating behaviors are detectable by both parents and teachers (Eisenberg et al. 2001). In the school setting, children's behavioral problems can lead to rejection by peers, peer victimization, and even dislike from teachers (Mak, et al., 2020). For this reason, it is necessary for preschools and family to reflect together on the causes of such behaviors, to collaborate in prevention interventions.

In recent years, one of the most relevant phenomena in psychopedagogical research is phubbing, which refers to the practice of ignoring other people and focusing on smartphones during interpersonal communication (Chotpitayasunondh, Douglas, 2016; Karadǎg et al., 2015). Scientific literature highlights the risks due to parental phubbing in the adult-child relationship. For instance, it seems that phubbing behaviors perpetrated by parents can lead to problematic behaviors in children (Lv, et al., 2022; Wang, et al., 2022). Currently, there are not enough studies on this association referring to preschool-aged children (Balta et al., 2020). Therefore, this research is aimed at verifying associations between excessive smartphone use by parents and internalized and externalizing behaviors in preschoolers. In the study participated 160 adults, parents of 110 children between 3 and 5 years old, as well as 12 kindergarten teachers. Parents completed three questionnaires: SDQ (Goodman, 1997), GSP (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, 2018), and MPPUS (Bianchi & Philips, 2005; Agus et al., 2022). Educators filled out the SDQ with reference to the children of participating parents. Data shows that increased use of smartphones by the parent positively and significantly correlates with the emergence of problem behaviors in children. In conclusion, we can say that parental phubbing can be associated to problematic behaviors from preschool age, also visible during the activities carried out by children in kindergarten. Future research should investigate the effects of an awareness-raising process on the conscious use of devices in parents, with the involvement of stakeholders such as kindergartens and schools. It could be an important step in understanding how educational services and institutions can contribute to the digital well-being of families and to improving parent-child relationships.

Keywords: Education, Technology, Phubbing, Smartphone Use, Kindergartens.