Viewing behavior of children and TV guidance by parents: A comparison of parent and child reports.

Abstract

In this study parents as well as their children (N ϭ 224) were surveyed about children's television viewing behavior and television guidance provided by parents. It was investigated whether parents know how much time their child spends in front of the television and which programs the child watches. Parents' estimate of their children's viewing time was consistently lower than the estimate made by the children themselves. Parents showed to know about half of the programs the child reported to watch at home. In regard to television guidance, mothers as well as fathers reported to provide TV guidance more frequently than children reported to receive. Parents' tendency to report a greater incidence of guidance than their children applied to all three measured types of TV guidance: restrictive guidance, instructive guidance, and social co-viewing. Mothers, fathers as well as children reported that social co-viewing was practiced most often and restrictive guidance the least.

Determinants of Internet Mediation:

“…Previous television and video game research has shown that children and their parents usually agree on the types of mediation they identify but differ in the amount of mediation they perceive; parents usually report more involvement than their children (Koolstra & Lucassen, 2004;Nikken & Jansz, 2006;van der Voort, van Lil, & Peeters, 1998). Several explanations are conceivable here.…”

“…First, parents may exaggerate their interventions in order to comply with norms of socially desirable behaviour, whilst children may minimize parental mediation for reasons of peer status (van der Voort et al, 1998). This explanation is not sufficient, however, because the differences between parents and children can vary significantly per type of mediation (Koolstra & Lucassen, 2004). Second, the difference may be due to the characteristics of children's media use and modern family life.…”

The social character of parental and adolescent television viewing: An event history analysis

“…This follows also from research that indicates that the way in which parents interfere with their children's media use depends on the family background (Warren, Gerke, and Kelly, 2002). Parental interference is often studied under the labels of 'parental guidance' or 'parental mediation' (for a discussion of this concept, see Koolstra and Lucassen, 2004). These labels suggest that parental interference with media use by their (adolescent) children is deliberately induced with children's well-being in mind.…”

Estrategias de mediación parental en España: factores predictores para los diversos tipos de estrategias

“…Previous research on television has shown that parents and children perceive differently the amount of parental mediation which takes place, and usually parents report that they are more involved than is recognised by their children (Van Den Bergh and Van Den Bulck, 2000;Koolstra and Lucassen, 2004).…”

“…Firstly, parents may overestimate their behaviour in order to comply with the norms of "socially desirable behaviour", whereas children may minimize parental mediation for reasons related to peer status (Van Den Bergh and Van Den Bulck, 2000;Van Der Voort, Van Lil, and Peeters, 1998). Nevertheless, this explanation is insufficient as differences between children's and parents' versions of the degree of parental mediation carried out can vary significantly, depending on the type of mediation involved (Koolstra and Lucassen, 2004). Secondly, handheld devices increasingly allow children to use them out of the sight of their parents, either in their bedroom or with peers.…”