Chapter 5 - Parenting of Preschool Children’s Media Use in the Home

Abstract

A growing body of literature demonstrates associations between preschool children's exposure to various forms of electronic media and developmental outcomes, exploring factors such as the timing and frequency of children's electronic media exposure, as well as the quality of the content to which they are exposed. More recently, researchers have begun documenting the role of parenting and socialization during children's home media use. However, many of these studies rely on parent report of children's media exposure, as well as parenting practices related to media use, a method prone to reporter bias. In the present chapter, we use enhanced audio recordings and coding of naturalistic observations to provide a comprehensive description of the home media environment of preschoolers. In addition to describing the quantity and quality of children's media exposure, we examine the nature of conversations between mothers and their preschool-aged children during media use, and explore sociodemographic differences.