Parental mediation of US youths’ exposure to televised relational aggression

Abstract

Exposure to televised relational aggression can negatively influence youths’ well-being. Research shows that parent–child interactions about media – parental mediation – can alter children’s responses to media exposure. Therefore, this study explored the relation between US parents’ perceptions of relational aggression in the media, parental mediation, and the responses of their pre-adolescent and adolescent children to relational aggression exposure. Results revealed that parents’ attitudes toward and perceptions of the amount of relational aggression on television were associated with parental mediation efforts. Parental mediation was positively associated with relational aggression among girls. Findings suggest that parental mediation may be related to an increase in relational aggression among pre-teen and teenage girls.

Keywords:

• Parental mediation
• children
• relational aggression
• television
• media effects