Parenting approaches and digital technology use of preschool age children in a Chinese community

Italian Journal of Pediatrics

Alice Yuen Loke¹  Charmaine Hei Man Wong²  Ho Ting Wong¹  Winsome Yuk Yin Lam¹  Cathrine Fowler³  Cynthia Sau Ting Wu¹ 

[1] GH506, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China;Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong, China;Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

关键词: Screen time;    Preschooler;    Parenting;    Internet;    Digital technologies;    Child health;   

Others  :  802362
DOI  :  10.1186/1824-7288-40-44

 received in 2014-01-09, accepted in 2014-04-14,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Young children are using digital technology (DT) devices anytime and anywhere, especially with the invention of smart phones and the replacement of desktop computers with digital tablets. Although research has shown that parents play an important role in fostering and supporting preschoolers’ developing maturity and decisions about DT use, and in protecting them from potential risk due to excessive DT exposure, there have been limited studies conducted in Hong Kong focusing on parent-child DT use. This study had three objectives: 1) to explore parental use of DTs with their preschool children; 2) to identify the DT content that associated with child behavioral problems; and 3) to investigate the relationships between approaches adopted by parents to control children’s DT use and related preschooler behavioral problems.

Methods

This exploratory quantitative study was conducted in Hong Kong with 202 parents or guardians of preschool children between the ages of 3 and 6 attending kindergarten. The questionnaire was focused on four aspects, including 1) participants’ demographics; 2) pattern of DT use; 3) parenting approach to manage the child’s DT use; and 4) child behavioral and health problems related to DT use. Multiple regression analysis was adopted as the main data analysis method for identifying the DT or parental approach-related predictors of the preschooler behavioral problems.

Results

In the multiple linear regression model, the ‘restrictive approach score’ was the only predictor among the three parental approaches (B:1.66, 95% CI: [0.21, 3.11], p < 0.05). Moreover, the viewing of antisocial behavior cartoons by children also significantly increased the tendency of children to have behavioral problem (B:3.84, 95% CI: [1.66, 6.02], p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Since preschool children’s cognitive and functional abilities are still in the developmental stage, parents play a crucial role in fostering appropriate and safe DT use. It is suggested that parents practice a combination of restrictive, instructive and co-using approaches, rather than a predominately restrictive approach, to facilitate their child’s growth and development. Further studies are needed to explore the parent-child relationship and parents’ self-efficacy when managing the parent-child DT use, to develop strategies to guide children in healthy DT use.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 WU et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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