Determinants of Internet Mediation: A comparison of the reports by Dutch parents and children

This article empirically examines if parents apply new types of mediation for the internet, using data from the Dutch EU Kids Online project. The high internet penetration in the Netherlands makes this study especially relevant because almost all parents and children use the internet. Factor analyses applied to reports by parents and children (aged 9– 16) revealed four mediation types that are comparable for both groups: active safety mediation, restrictive content mediation, restrictive technical mediation, and monitoring. Demographics (age, gender, education, family size), measures of internet usage, and parental views towards internet use were analysed as determinants of the parental mediation types. Parents monitored younger children in particular, more often actively mediated girls and more often restricted children’s internet use in larger families. The use of virtually all mediation types was related to children’s diversity in internet use and the parents’ view on the benefits of their involvement.

"The data revealed that two of the three mediation styles found in previous television and video games research were also perceived by parents and children as distinct forms of internet mediation, namely, active and restrictive mediation. Our data also corroborated Livingstone and Helsper’s (2008) notion that restrictive mediation comprises two different types: content and technical restrictions. And in line with Livingstone and Helsper, monitoring emerged as a distinct style of internet mediation" (Sonck et al., 2013, p. 108) "In addition to these four types of internet mediation, we did not find agreement among parents and children on co-use as a separate mediation style, or on the adapted version, “active co-use”, as proposed by Livingstone and Helsper (2008)." (Sonck et al., 2013, p. 108) "In line with prior research on media socialization, the results showed that parental accounts of internet mediation were consistently higher than those of children. According to both groups, technical tools to restrict internet use were applied the least, whilst actively mediating internet use was the most prevalent mediation style. Active mediation was also the style on which parent and child reports showed most differences in an absolute sense. In relative terms, however, there was close agreement between parents and children on the prevalence of each mediation style, indicating that the two groups concurred in their recognition of each mediation style" (Sonck et al., 2013, p. 109) "Parents and children not only differed in the absolute amount of mediation perceived, but to a certain extent also in the determining factors (demographics, internet usage, and parental views) that influence the four mediation styles. Parents and children differed for about half the significant relationships between the mediation styles and the determinants. This finding provides further evidence that the two groups each have their own perceptions of parents’ internet guidance" (Sonck et al., 2013, p. 109)