TECH Parenting to Promote Effective Media Management

Abstract

* Abbreviations: AAP — : American Academy of Pediatrics HRB — : health risk behavior TECH — : talk, educate, co-view, and house rules As media and technology proliferate in the lives of US children, parents are confronted with the ever-growing task of home media management. Accumulating evidence reveals that youth media exposure to health risk behaviors (HRBs) (eg, risky sexual behavior, substance use) during the preteen years is associated with increased risk for subsequent engagement in HRBs,1,2 and greater intensity of exposure leads to greater youth risk. Whereas parents remain a strong influence on youth behavior and guidelines advocate for parental media restriction and monitoring, the definition of specific media parenting behaviors that impact child outcomes is needed. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has offered an evidence-informed summary of recommended parenting practices within the media environment.3 However, parents generally express a desire for more information about effective youth media management and are relatively unaware of the AAP’s media recommendations.4 To support AAP guidelines, a review of the literature and evidence from behavioral observation and focus group studies reveal 4 behavioral domains encapsulated by our proposed talk, educate, co-view, and house rules (TECH) parenting.5 We propose TECH parenting as a useful framework to address important behavioral targets for parental media management of preadolescent youth (Table 1 and Supplemental Fig 1). View this table: TABLE 1 Behavioral Strategies and Example Wording to Promote Effective TECH Parenting Parental monitoring is associated with reduced youth risk for HRBs, and talking with youth about media use allows parents to learn what their child is viewing or using.5 Some … Address correspondence to Joy Gabrielli, PhD, Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, 46 Centerra Parkway, Suite 301, Lebanon, NH 03766. E-mail: joy.l.gabrielli{at}dartmouth.edu