Poster #143 - The Moderating Effect Of Household Chaos On Media Use And Social Development In Middle Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Middle childhood represents an important period of development, during which social competence and control over impulsive behavior are refined to prepare for adolescence, young adulthood, and beyond. The increasing prevalence of digital media in children’s lives may affect these two key areas of social development. The Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM) hypothesizes that dispositional, developmental, and social factors can moderate the association between media use and socioemotional functioning (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013). We investigated the moderating effect of a social factor, household chaos, on relations between media use and socioemotional functioning in middle childhood. We hypothesized that greater media use would relate to lower child social competence and higher impulsivity and that greater household chaos would strengthen these associations.

Different-sex couples (n = 99) and their first-born child (M = 7.79 years old) participated. Most parents identified as White (>85%), had at least a bachelor’s degree (mothers 79%, fathers 62%), and a median household income of $106,000. Mothers reported children’s average weekly media use in hours per device (e.g., cell phone, video games), social competence (SCSP; CPPRG, 1995), impulsivity (DSIS; Tsukayama et al., 2013), and household chaos (CHAOS-6; Deater-Deckard et al., 2009).

Using simple linear regression models, we found that greater cell phone use predicted higher impulsivity (β = .40, p = .036), but not lower social competence (β = -.18, p = .171). When household chaos was added as a moderator, it demonstrated a significant main effect on impulsivity (β = .32, p = .020). Additionally, the interaction of cell phone use and household chaos significantly predicted social competence (β = -.66, p = .037). A simple slopes analysis suggested cell phone use only had a positive effect on social competence in low-chaos families; however, this effect did not reach significance (β = .94, p = .074; Figure 1).

Internet use did not predict impulsivity (β = .19, p = .093) or social competence (β = -.05, p = .513) in simple linear models. However, when household chaos was added, both Internet use (β = -1.19, p = .034) and the interaction of Internet use and household chaos (β = .46, p = .022) exhibited significant effects on impulsivity. A simple slopes analysis suggested a negative effect of internet use on impulsivity; however, like cell phone use, this effect was only seen in low-chaos families and did not reach significance (β = -.51, p = .065; Figure 2).

The present study demonstrates that certain types of media use are associated with children’s social development. However, the direction of these associations may depend on levels of household chaos. In lower-chaos families, our findings suggest that use of some media may be beneficial, whereas the same may not be true in higher-chaos families. Under the DSMM, high household chaos may increase children’s susceptibility to the negative effects of media use on socioemotional functioning. Future research should examine other moderators under the DSMM, such as dispositional (e.g., temperament) and developmental (e.g., specific media preferences, violent versus nonviolent media) factors.

Authors

• Colton Olexa, Ohio State University
  Presenting Author

• Julianna Rose Calabrese, Ohio State University

• Sarah Jane Schoppe-Sullivan, Ohio State University