Bidirectional Influences Among Parents and Children in Their Digital Media Use and the Association With Internet Self-Efficacy: An Application of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model in Media research.

• In Event: The Family Media Climate: How Parents (And Children!) Shape the Media Ecology of the Home

Abstract

In the socialization, child development and family interaction literature, the idea that children are active agents and that parents and children socialize and influence each other is well established. Also in media research, the influence of the parent and the influence of the child have been examined, albeit never in one model. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to examine a model of bidirectional influences in (digital) media use. A dyadic survey was distributed to 205 parent-child dyads in XXX. A model of bidirectional influences was operationalized with the actor-partner interdependence model, a dyadic model that determines how one person’s outcomes are influenced by the other member of the dyad. This model was tested with the constructs digital media influence and Internet self-efficacy. The results showed significant and negative interpersonal associations and significant and positive intrapersonal associations. The meaning of these results and the theoretical implications are discussed.

Authors

• Sara Nelissen, U of Leuven - School for Mass Communication Research

• Jan Van den Bulck, University of Michigan