<p>With the increasing prevalence of parental phubbing, it has been closely linked to adolescents’ psychological distress. The boundary conditions and underlying mechanisms of this relationship, however, remained unknown. In order to close this gap, the current study examined the roles that connectedness to nature and peer attachment played as moderators and mediators in the relationship between psychological distress and parental phubbing. 412 junior school students and 333 senior school students were recruited to finish measures of parental phubbing, peer attachment, connectedness to nature, psychological distress as well as demographic variables. The study found a positive correlation between parental phubbing and psychological distress among both junior school and senior school students, and this association was mediated by poor peer attachment only in junior school students. In addition, connectedness to nature could only moderate the relationship between parental phubbing and poor peer attachment in senior school students, and was not significant in other pathways. These findings highlight the importance of reducing parental phubbing to mitigate adolescents’ psychological distress. Especially for senior school students, it suggested that fostering connectedness to nature may serve as a protective factor in family.</p>