Monitoring, Mediating, and Modeling: Parental Influence on Adolescent Computer and Internet Use in the United States

Abstract

Proliferating internet-accessible media have altered the home context, raising questions about parental influence on youth computer/internet use. This study examines parents' monitoring, internet mediation, and modeling behaviors as predictors of adolescents' computer/internet use among 629 US adolescents and their parents. Parents' time spent with computers was positively associated with teens' computer time, and parents' engagement in seven internet activities (e.g., IM/chat) also predicted teens' engagement in those activities. Greater general parental monitoring of adolescents predicted less teen engagement in IM/chat, social networking site use, video streaming, and multiplayer online games, while parental tracking of internet use predicted more teen IM/chat. Older teens spent more time with computers and in various internet activities and reported lower rates of general parental monitoring and parental internet mediation. Findings suggest that parents act as models for their children's internet use. Additionally, general parental practices not specific to media may affect youths' media behaviors as well.

Keywords::

• adolescent
• computer
• internet
• mediation
• parental monitoring
• modeling
• social cognitive theory

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah E. Vaala

Sarah Vaala, PhD is a Research Associate at Vanderbilt University. At the time of the study she was the Martin Fishbein Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Sarah is interested in the presence and educational and health implications of screen media in the lives of children and adolescents, as well as the ways caregivers perceive and make decisions about their children's media use. E-mail: [email protected]

Amy Bleakley

Amy Bleakley is a Senior Research Scientist at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her doctorate in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University and her Master of Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health, also at Columbia University. Her research interests include media effects on health behaviors, the use of behavioral theory to design media messages and campaigns, and adolescent risk behaviors. E-mail: [email protected]