Implications of low or high media use among parents for young children’s media use
Keywords
Family media use
parental mediation
socioeconomic status
media-literacy
reading
Publication details
| Year: | 2017 |
| DOI: | 10.5817/cp2017-3-1 |
| Issued: | 2017 |
| Language: | English |
| Volume: | 11 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Nikken P. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace |
| Publisher: | Masaryk University Press |
| Topics: | Social mediation |
| Sample: | "The final sample (N = 1,381) contained twice as many mothers as fathers, whereas 9% had indicated to be a single parent (see Table 1). The age of the children was equally spread: each age category was represented by 14% to 16% of the parents, except for children 0 years old (5%). Parents also reported evenly about boys and girls (50%). As compared to the general Dutch population (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek [CBS], 2015), our sample was skewed upwards regarding educational level; only 11% of the parents had a ‘very low’ educational level (no education/only primary education) and 34% had a ‘low’ level (vocational secondary education), however, 38% had a ‘high’ educational level (university preparatory education, Bachelor’s degree) and 17% even had a ‘very high’ level (university education/Master’s degree). Somewhat more than 25% of the parents had an annual family income up to 40,000 Euro [i.e., below or around the Dutch modal income of 36,500 Euro (Centraal Planbureau, 2016)]; 54% had an annual family income between 40,000 and 67,000 Euro per year; and almost 21% of the parents had a family income of more than 67,000 Euro per year. In terms of family size, the parents were rather similar to the general Dutch population with an average of two children at home." (Nikken, 2017, p. 4) |
| Implications For Parents About: | Parental practices / parental mediation |
| Implications For Stakeholders About: | Healthcare; Other |
| Other Stakeholder Implication: | Practitioners who support parents |
Abstract
Using an online questionnaire among 1,381 parents (children 0-7 years) in the Netherlands I investigated a) the congruence between the time that parents and children spend on various media; b) how several parent, child and household characteristics vary among four family types: low, moderate, high, and very high media consumers; and c) which characteristics most strongly differentiate these four family types. The analyses reveal that parents vary widely in their media consumption (from about 1 to more than 6½ hours media per day). Since the children’s media use parallels their parent’s, parents seem to provide an important example in the home. Data also show that lower and higher use families differ significantly on income, education level, number of devices at home, views on media for children, ease of applying co-active mediation and children’s proficiency in media use. Finally, the four family types can best be distinguished on the basis of quantity characteristics (education level, number of screens at home, time spent by children on media) and quality characteristics (type of media content used, ease of mediation, views on media for children). Consequences for young children’s development and parenting support are described.
Outcome
The analyses reveal that parents vary widely in their media consumption (from about 1 to more than 6½ hours media per day). Since the children’s media use parallels their parent’s, parents seem to provide an important example in the home. Data also show that lower and higher use families differ significantly on income, education level, number of devices at home, views on media for children, ease of applying co-active mediation and children’s proficiency in media use. Finally, the four family types can best be distinguished on the basis of quantity characteristics (education level, number of screens at home, time spent by children on media) and quality characteristics (type of media content used, ease of mediation, views on media for children). Consequences for young children’s development and parenting support are described.