Predicting YouTube Use in Middle Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Technology, Media & Child Development

Abstract

Several studies have documented that children ages 10-12 are heavy users of online video sites, such as YouTube, and that online video viewing constitutes the majority of these children’s media diets (Blackwell, Lauricella, Conway, & Wartella, 2014; Rideout & Robb, 2019). However, little is known of this use beyond descriptive reports. In addition, YouTube is a social media site with an age requirement of 13, which brings into question what factors drive young children to use an age-inappropriate site. As children at this age begin to grow in autonomy (see Wray-Lake et al., 2010), they may play more of a role in shaping their own media choices in comparison to their parents. In this way, children’s media selections can be shaped by social factors, including their parents, but also the child’s unique disposition and developmental stage. Using the Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model (DSMM; Valkenburg & Peter, 2013) as a theoretical framework, we examine how children’s dispositional (i.e., anxiety), developmental (i.e., inattention and inhibitory control), and social susceptibilities (i.e., parent and peer use of YouTube) influence their use of YouTube. In particular, we examine different indicators of use, including time and exposure to different YouTube content (e.g., educational, entertainment). By considering different categories of susceptibility variables and types of YouTube use concurrently, the present study provides information about how a child’s unique susceptibilities predict unique patterns of use, both in terms of time spent using YouTube, but also engagement with different content.
Using data from an online survey of 281 parent-child dyads (children ages 10-12), results revealed that social factors, including peer YouTube use, conversation with peers about YouTube, and parent YouTube use were the most consistent set of predictors of children’s YouTube use and exposure to content. More specifically, parent YouTube use predicted children’s YouTube Kids account ownership, their time spent on YouTube, and exposure to both educational and entertainment. In contrast, talking with peers about YouTube was the only variable that predicted children’s YouTube account ownership. This is an important distinction, as having a YouTube account is ostensibly restricted to individuals 13 years of age and older. Given that all child participants in the current study were 10-12 years of age, this suggests that parent YouTube use may promote more developmentally appropriate YouTube behaviors among their children, including the use of YouTube Kids and exposure to educational content. However, aspects of child YouTube use were also related to children self-reported anxiety and parent reports of child inattention, suggesting that child-centered factors predict YouTube use in addition to social factors. Further, these results support previous research that children are less passive media consumers at this age, and make more conscious decisions of the media they consume (Grusec & Hastings, 2014). These findings not only provide insight into how children ages 10-12 use YouTube, but also suggest that they do so differently based on their unique dispositional, developmental, and social needs.

Authors

• Lauren Beth Taylor, University of California - Davis
  Presenting Author

• Drew Cingel, University of California - Davis
  Non-Presenting Author