Media use and children's self-regulation: a narrative review

ABSTRACT

This narrative literature review examines the relationship between media use and young children's self-regulation. Through a literature search of PsycINFO, and a subsequent manual search, authors identified 16 peer-reviewed articles published since 2010 that explored how child and parent television viewing and cell phone use are linked to children's self-regulatory skills. Syntheses of available evidence indicated three pathways that narrate the growing body of research on the relationship between media use and children's self-regulation: (a) children's media use had a direct and bidirectional relationship with self-regulatory skills, (b) children's media use was linked to self-regulation through interactions with parents and caregivers, and (c) parental media use was linked to children's self-regulation through child–parent interactions. Authors discuss policy, practice, and future research implications for early childhood professionals and parent educators, with an emphasis on the timeliness of this review in context of the current global health crisis.

KEYWORDS:

• Media use
• television
• cell phone
• self-regulation
• parent–child interaction
• technoference

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aesha John

Dr. Aesha John is a licensed masters level social worker and an associate professor of social work at Texas Christian University. Her research and teaching interests focus on children and families, parenting in difficult contexts, and wellbeing among individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Samantha Bates

Dr. Samantha Bates is an Assistant Professor in the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University, and licensed social worker with more than seven years of experience working with socially vulnerable youth in various settings including schools, communities, afterschool programmes, and sport. Her research focuses on equity-minded positive youth development and seeks to draw attention to patterns of inequity in youth outcomes. This work includes exploring risk and protective factors related to children's social-emotional learning outcomes, identifying evidence-based and culturally responsive mental health interventions, and examining how adults in youth-serving organizations become race-conscious and aware of the social and historical context of exclusionary practices in education.

Nadja Zimmermann

Ms. Nadja Zimmermann earned her Bachelors in Social Work and is keenly interested in wellbeing of children in cross cultural contexts.