Parent beliefs and child media use: Stress and digital skills as moderators

Abstract

Understanding how parent beliefs about screen media relate to children's screen media use is important for informing interventions to support healthy media use. However, studies have seldom explored relations of parent beliefs with aspects of screen media use beyond overall screentime and have not considered moderating factors. This study examined relations between parent screen media beliefs and multiple aspects of the screen media environment and investigated how those relations may vary according to parent income, stress, and digital skills, in a sample of 822 parents of young children (aged 4–8) in the United States. Positive parent beliefs about screen media predicted more reported co-use and viewing of educational content. Additionally, parent stress and, to a lesser extent, digital skills, moderated relations between beliefs and limit setting, use of screen media for child behavioral regulation, and child screentime. Implications for approaches to screen media intervention are discussed.