Mediation strategies and its role on preteens’ media-induced risk of socioemotional adjustment
The digital world provides the platform for Malaysian youths to engage with the use of gadgets with ease. Pre-adolescents start to explore their identity and social construct through social media. In the media-induced environment, the children’s socioemotional aspect can be influenced. Excessive scr...
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| Summary: | The digital world provides the platform for Malaysian youths to engage with the use of gadgets with ease. Pre-adolescents start to explore their identity and social construct through social media. In the media-induced environment, the children’s socioemotional aspect can be influenced. Excessive screen time can result in the prospect of negative emotional and behavioral adjustment to the environment. As a result, parental mediation strategies are adapted to manage the relation between children and media while promoting positive socioemotional adjustment. The aim of the study is to investigate the association between parental mediation strategies and children’s socioemotional adjustment. A random sampling of 177 Kota Kinabalu parents who have 9-to-11-year-old children participated in the study using the Google forms online questionnaire. The set of questionnaire includes demographic information, Livingstone and Helsper (2008) parental mediation strategies, and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Among the strategies, the results displayed monitoring and active co-use are significant predictors on children’s prosocial behavior; F (2, 174) = 14.393, p < .05. Monitoring significantly reduced the risk of conduct problems; F (1, 175) = 5.267, , p < .05 and hyperactivity/inattention; F (1, 175) = 13.920, p < .05. Active co-use was negatively associated with peer problems; F (1, 175) = 7.005, p < .05. In summary, parents need to adjust themselves to manage children’s media use so that it can help build or maintain their emotional behavioral context. Appropriate guidance about screen time and gadget use can benefit the children to comprehend the rules and regulations in a positive manner. There is a need for further research with diverse samples and perspectives to best understanding the mechanism.. |
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