Keywords

parental mediation, parental monitoring, media use, aggression, substance use, sexual behavior

Abstract

The current study examined how parental mediation of media (restrictive mediation, active mediation, and coviewing) influenced child outcomes. Three meta-analyses, 1 for each type of mediation, were conducted on a total of 57 studies. Each analysis assessed the effectiveness of parental mediation on 4 pertinent child outcomes: media use, aggression, substance use, and sexual behavior. The overall results indicated small, but significant relationships between child outcomes and restrictive mediation (r􏰀+ = 􏰁 -􏰂.06), and coviewing (r􏰀+ = 􏰁 .09). Overall active mediation was nonsignificant, though active mediation was individually related to lower levels of aggression (r􏰀 + =􏰁 -􏰂.08), sexual behavior (r􏰀+ = 􏰁 -􏰂.06), and substance use (r+ =􏰀 􏰁 -􏰂.11). This analysis revealed that parents may have the ability to mitigate some of the adverse effects of the media by using certain mediation strategies. Overall, a cooperative effort from the communication and parenting fields is necessary for a comprehensive analysis of parental mediation as well as a disentanglement of the various parental mediation measures.

Original Publication Citation

Collier, K. M., Coyne, S. M., Rasmussen, E., Hawkins, A. J., Padilla-Walker, L. M., Erickson, S., Memmott-Elison, M. (2016). Does parental mediation of media influence child outcomes? A meta-analysis on media time, aggression, substance use, and sexual behavior. Developmental Psychology, 52, 798-812.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2016-02-25

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6831

Publisher

Developmental Psychology

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Family Life

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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