Attitudes van Ouders over Media en het Mediagebruik van het Kind

Abstract

Aim. This study examined the relationship between the positive or negative attitude of parents and media use (frequency and content) of primary school children. Method. Participants (n=292) in this study were parents with children ranging from 4 till 12 years old. Data was collected with an online survey filled in by parents. A multiple regression analysis was conducted in order to answer the research question. Results. There is a significant negative relationship between the negative attitude of parents and educational media content. In all of the other analyses no significant relationship between negative and positive attitude and media use of children was found. Conclusion. There is not a relationship between the positive or negative attitude of parents and media use (frequency and content) of primary school children. This could be explained by the form of mediation or guidance parents provide. It could also be explained by the amount of rules parents use. This could have a relationship with the media use of the child. The overall conclusion of this research is that parents do not have an relationship with their child’s media use and content except for educational media and negative attitude. This one significant result could be explained by the attitude theory of Bandura and Walters (1963) and Skinner (1953), where children can learn by imitating their parents media use. And the reinforcement of the parents. The results of the negative attitude scale need to be interpreted carefully because of the low Cronbach’s Alfa.