Parental Mediation of Children's Television and Video Game use in Germany: Active and Embedded in Family Processes

Abstract

In a survey study, 158 dyads of German parents and their nine to 12 year-old children reported on their television and video game consumption, parental mediation strategies, and family climate. Parents also reported their beliefs concerning media effects. We found that mediation strategies differ from acknowledged media usage conceptions in that parents play a more active role than previously assumed. Restrictive mediation comprises rules and restrictions, but also parents' educative explanations that media do not reflect reality.Patronizing mediation includes shared media consumption, but also parents commenting on media contents. Pointing out and emphasizing socio-emotional features in the media (e.g., empathy) characterizes active-emotional co-use (AEC). Regression analyses revealed that parental fear of negative media effects predicted both AEC and restrictive mediation.Children and parents' congruent perceptions of family interactions predicted AEC and patronizing video game mediation. Overall, positive ratings of family interactions were associated with children using media less frequently.Keywords: parental mediation, children, television, video games, family interaction, media effects. PARENTAL MEDIATION AND FAMILY PROCESSES 3Parental Mediation of Children's Television and Video Game Use: Active and Embedded in Family ProcessesElectronic and interactive media have become an integral part of everyday life, especially welcomed by young people (Television Bureau of Advertising [TVB], 2010). It is not surprising that the potential effects of excessive media use (e.g., Gentile et al., 2011;King, Delfabbro, & Griffiths, 2010) and sexually explicit or violent content (e.g., Wilson, 2008) on children and their development have drawn immense public attention. First and foremost, it is the parents and caregivers who are worried about media effects and therefore seek to actively regulate media use in consistency with family norms and standards. We specifically hypothesize that all forms of mediation strategies are inherently based on active parental involvement. Additionally, video gaming might be more challenging to regulate than television (TV), because the child expert mostly plays alone in his or her room. In the present study, we therefore investigated: (a) whether there are differences in mediation between media types (i.e., TV and video games [VG]), and (b) the factors that best predict parents' choice of mediation strategy. Types of Electronic MediaDue to their specific characteristics, TV and VG differ with regard to the effects they may have on the users (Buckley & Anderson, 2006;Carnagey & Anderson, 2004). For instance, VG are superior to TV with regard to the intensity and frequency with which violence is being depicted (Wilson, 2008). More generally, a constant pressure to act is put on the players in most VG, forcing them to continuously focus on ongoing events. In contrast, TV viewers often engage in additional activities (e.g., holding conversations, doing domestic work), thereby paying less...

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