Poster #229 - Technology Use Among 5th Graders: Electronic Interactions and Feelings About and Relations with Classmates

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Given the prevalence of social media, understanding which activities children are engaged in, for how long, and in what context is essential to support children’s healthy development (Common Sense Media, 2017). The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011) study provides an opportunity to examine the frequency of fifth graders’ electronic communication, online gaming, and social networking along with student and teacher reports on peer relations. Students also report on their feelings of loneliness and social anxiety.

The ECLS-K:2011 is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of children who were in kindergarten in the 2010-2011 school year. Beginning in fourth grade, students were asked to report on their frequency of electronic communication (emailing, texting, or messaging) and if their parents had any rules regarding this behavior. In fifth grade, they were also asked to report on the frequency of playing online games with others and use of social networking sites. Teachers rated children on their peer relationships (e.g., prosocial behavior, social understanding) and students self-reported their loneliness, social anxiety, and peers’ prosocial behavior towards them.

Data collected from fifth graders will be released this winter. Consequently, we ran preliminary analyses with data collected when study children were in fourth grade. Analyses were conducted using Stata 13, incorporating the complex design of the survey to produce appropriate population estimates and standard errors. Group comparisons and T-tests were used to identify significant differences in estimates across groups.

Analyses indicated that thirty-three percent of students report not engaging in electronic communication, another third report doing it only a few times a week, and a third are engaging in this behavior at least once a day. Girls report using electronic communication more frequently than do boys. A smaller percentage of Asian students report participating in electronic communication many times a day as compared to students of most other race/ethnicity groups. In contrast, a higher percentage of black students report using electronic communication many times a day as compared to students of all other race/ethnicity groups. There are also differences in frequency of communication between students who are living below poverty and those who are living at or above 200 percent of the poverty threshold (see Table 1).

Moreover, children who never use electronic communication report lower levels of peer prosocial behavior towards them than children who are using electronic communication. These children are also rated by their teachers as being excluded by their peers more frequently than students using electronic communication. Students who report using electronic communication many times a day have the lowest average teacher rating of social understanding and prosocial behavior as compared to other students (see Table 2).

For our final analyses, we will use the fifth-grade data to also examine how online gaming and use of social networking sites varies by family characteristics and examine social emotional outcomes. A Common Sense Media study (2015) discovered differences in technology use by family income, and race/ethnicity. We will extend these findings to include students’ social perceptions and behaviors.

Authors

• Shannon Russell, American Institutes for Research
  Presenting Author

• Jodi Jacobson Chernoff, American Institutes for Research
  Non-Presenting Author