Parental mediation and preferences for regulation regarding children's digital media use: role of protection motivation and theory of planned behaviour

Shwadhin Sharma and Ching Yee (Athena) Lee

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2024, vol. 43, issue 8, 1499-1517

Abstract: The rapid growth of technology, such as smart devices, screens, and social media, has made parenting more complicated than it already is. The risks and harmful effects of digital media on children have forced parents to engage in several types of digital media mediation strategies. Applying the protection motivation theory and theory of planned behaviour in understanding the parental mediation strategy, this study explores parents’ perception of their own responsibilities and the development of appropriate policies and legislation to curve the risk of digital media in their children's lives. An online survey of 331 parents was conducted. The data was analyzed using structured equation modeling. Findings reveal that the fundamental variables of protection motivation theory and the theory of planned behaviour are mostly held to explain the psychological and external-environmental factors that impact parents’ digital media mediation strategy. This study also deduces that parents who apply restrictive and active mediation strategies prefer both governmental regulation and parent responsibility. In contrast, the parents who apply distant mediation prefer just government regulation. Policymakers can use the findings of this study to advance policies that help parents in managing their children's digital media use.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/0144929X.2023.2217275 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tbitxx:v:43:y:2024:i:8:p:1499-1517

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tbit20

DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2023.2217275

Access Statistics for this article

Behaviour and Information Technology is currently edited by Dr Panos P Markopoulos

More articles in Behaviour and Information Technology from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().