Project details

Methodology
Project title	Parental mediation of children's media use
Country or countries	Germany (DE)
Language(s) of report	English and German
Funder of research	PhD or Masters research
Date of fieldwork	2010
Main research focus
Target group studied	Children; Parents
Description of studied group
Age of children studied	8; 9; 10; 11; 12
Methodology	Quantitative
Size of sample	316
If survey, scope of sample	Sub-national
Topics covered
	Access and use; Activities; Risks and harm; Mediation
Findings
	• In a survey study, 158 dyads of parents and their 9- to 12-year-old children reported the use of television and video games in the family. Data were analysed with a focus on parents’ strategies to regulate media use and how children perceive parental mediation. • Factor analyses revealed three different strategies of parental mediation. Although these strategies share many aspects with the three forms of parental mediation described in the literature, parents were shown to play a more active role than previously assumed. • Parents’ restrictive mediation was characterised by rules or restrictions, but also comprised parents explaining that media do not reflect reality. Patronising mediation was found to include elements like shared media consumption and parents commenting on content. Finally, active-emotional co-use reflected parents’ stressing social-emotional aspects in the media (e.g. empathy). • When analysing factors that predicted the particular form of parental mediation, it was found that parents’ cognitive beliefs largely affected mediation. In particular, fear of negative media effects accompanied both active-emotional co-use and restrictive mediation. • Not surprisingly, observed differences in parental mediation strategies between media were likely due to parents’ greater familiarity with television compared to video games. • Remarkably, overall positive ratings of family interactions were associated with children using media less frequently. • In sum, survey findings reflect the complex interaction of media type, parents’ cognitive beliefs, and family processes, as well as parents’ active role with regard to media use in the family.
Further information
Relevant publications	Schaan, V., & Melzer, A. (2012). Parental mediation of children’s television and video game use: Active and embedded in family processes. Manuscript submitted for publication. / Schaan, V. (2010). Mediating outside the box. Drei Mediationsstrategien – zwei Medien – eine Gegenüberstellung aus der Sicht von Eltern und Kindern (Unpublished bachelor dissertation). University of Luxembourg: Luxembourg.
Report accessibility	Journal article; Other but not specified
URL of report
Dataset publicly available	Data available
Contact details of investigator	André Melzer, University of Luxembourg, andre.melzer@uni.lu