Exploring Types of Parent–Child Relationship and Internet use across Europe

Abstract

This article explores internet-related parent–child relationships across twenty-five European countries. Parent–child dyads are analysed in terms of parental mediation, digital competence, and communicative proximity, in order to answer the following research questions: Which types of parent–child relationship with respect to internet use can be found? How do they coincide with developmental, social, and cultural patterns? And how are they distributed across European Union countries? Using data from the EU Kids Online survey, four types of parent–child relationship were identified. The types are shaped by several factors on the level of child, family, and country, with the child's age and internet use being the most important predictors. Based on the prevalence of these family types, six country clusters were identified, which represent technical, social, and cultural contexts shaping the type of internet-related parent–child relationship.

Keywords:

• parent–child relationship
• children's internet use
• multivariate analysis
• cluster analysis
• cross-national differences
• European Union

Acknowledgements

We thank Uwe Hasebrink for his helpful comments and advice concerning the empirical part of this article.

Notes

^1. Parental mediation was originally measured through five subscales, including monitoring and technical mediation. Since our focus is on parent–child communication, and given the large amount of missing data on the two latter subscales, we did not include these in the analysis.

^2. The social capital sub-index measures countries’ performances in two areas: social cohesion and engagement, as well as community and family networks. It assesses how factors like volunteering, helping strangers, and donating to charitable organizations has an impact on the economic and life satisfaction of the populace as a whole (Legatum Prosperity Index, 2010).