To examine the associations between peer bullying and parental phubbing with executive function and their combined effect among primary and secondary school students, so as to provide scientific evidence for promoting healthy development of executive function among primary and secondary school students.

In November 2024, a combining convenience with clustering method was used to select 3 547 primary and secondary school students in Shenzhen City. The Chinese versions of the Delaware Bullying Victimization Scale-Student (DBVS-S), the Parental Phubbing Scale (PPS), and the Teenage Executive Functioning Inventory (TEXI) were used to assess peer bullying, parental phubbing, and executive function, respectively. Generalized linear regression models were applied to analyze the associations of peer bullying and parental phubbing with executive function, and to assess their joint effects. Subgroup analyses were performed by ages and genders, and multiplicative interaction terms were used to test for interactions.

The score for peer bullying among primary and secondary school students was (15.27±5.67), with verbal bullying, physical bullying, and relational bullying scores being (5.64±2.77) (4.70±1.62) (4.93±2.07), respectively. The score for parental phubbing was (13.98±5.00). Executive function score was (47.35±15.89), while inhibitory control and working memory scores were (26.44±9.00) (20.91±7.49), respectively. After adjusting for confounding factors such as age, gender, self-reported family relationship, self-reported family economic status, parental education level, both peer bullying (β=0.75, 95%CI=0.67-0.84), verbal bullying(β=1.41, 95%CI=1.23-1.58), physical bullying (β=2.18, 95%CI=1.87-2.49), relational bullying (β=1.78, 95%CI=1.54-2.01) and parental phubbing (β=0.88, 95%CI=0.79-0.98) were significantly positively associated with the degree of executive function impairment (all P < 0.01). Joint effect analysis showed that, compared with the "no bullying-low phubbing" group, the total executive function scores in other combined exposure groups were all higher (β=6.78-15.96, all P < 0.01). Among them, the "bullying-high phubbing" group exhibited the highest level of executive function impairment (β=14.17, 95%CI=12.61-15.73, P < 0.01). Subgroup analysis indicated significant interactions between verbal bullying and age on total executive function, inhibitory control, and working memory (all P_interaction < 0.01). The association of verbal bullying with executive function was slightly higher in primary and secondary school students younger than 13 years (β=1.80, 95%CI=1.45-2.16) than in those aged 13 years or older (β=1.25, 95%CI=1.05-1.45) (both P < 0.01). Other types of bullying and parental phone neglect showed no statistically significant interaction with age or gender in executive function, inhibitory control, and working memory(all P_interaction>0.05).

Both peer bullying and parental phubbing are significantly associated with impaired executive function among primary and secondary school students, and there is a combined effect between them; among these, the association between verbal bullying and executive function impairment in younger primary and secondary school students is more pronounced.