Not at the dinner table – take it to your room: adolescent reports of parental screen time rules

Abstract

Parents today are faced with the challenge of regulating their children’s technology use in a society where the screens are becoming more pervasive. While the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued guidelines for parental screen-time rules, few studies to date have examined the presence of parental screen-time rules, especially from an adolescent’s perspective. The purpose of this study was to consider the frequency of particular parental screen-time rules as reported by adolescents and identify the constructs that are present in these rules. A nationally representative survey suggested that parents provide three different types of screen time rules in decreasing frequency: general guidance, screen-free times, and screen-free zones. These findings highlight the areas where parents might be advised to develop rules and offer a foundation for future research and intervention initiatives related to parental involvement in adolescent technology use.

Keywords:

• Parent-Child Communication
• Sleep
• Parental Rules

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Esther Lam and Aubrey Gower for their assistance with this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.