Fighting the war on indecency: Mediating TV, internet, and videogame usage among achieving and underachieving gifted children

Abstract

This investigation explores the level, type, and extent of household mediation of television, the Internet, and videogames employed by parents of achieving and underachieving, intellectually gifted children in light of the recently declared “war on indecency.” It examines various child‐rearing practices and perceptions as well as salient child‐oriented attributes and their contribution to how the industry ratings and content‐blocking technologies are adopted into household mediation strategies. How much intervention occurs, what form it takes, and which electronic media are targeted for parental mediation were found to be largely contingent on the child's academic ability, age, and gender. Patterns of media consumption were also found to be significantly different among academically average, underachieving, and achieving gifted children.