Poster #147 - Covid-19 shelter-in-place media decisions: Impact of parenting stress and well-being on screen time mediation for young children

• In Event: Poster Session 09

Abstract

This interdisciplinary study of early childhood, human development, media, communication, and technology studies presents the perspective of parents with young children (n = 653) ages 0-8 years old during the shelter-in-place period of COVID-19. Findings highlight how family stress and well-being impacted parent decisions regarding their child(ren)’s use of various media technology (i.e. screen time) while at home during the shelter-in-place period of the COVID-19 pandemic (beginning March 2020).
Children’s media use has consistently been one of the top parenting concerns, which only intensified as schools and childcare centers closed in March 2020 and children were at home during their parents' work day (Pew, 2020). COVID-19 effectively curbed “normal life” and increased children's daily use of media technology due to remote learning, need for social interaction, and limited childcare options (Parents Together, 2020). This study captures the impact of parents’ experiences of stress and well-being on their decisions regarding their children’s technology use (i.e. screen time mediation).
An online Qualtrics survey was administered in December 2020 to parents across the U.S. Questions addressed topics such as parental challenges during the lockdown, decisions made regarding children’s media use and education, and the effects of the pandemic on parent, child, and family well-being. All study participants were parents with one or more children living at home with them during the lockdown period beginning March 2020. Half of the participating parents identified as female (50.68%) and half as male (49.03%).
SEM with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted using Mplus software (Muthen & Muthen, 2015). The structural model provided a good fit to the data: χ2(420): 1513.08, p < .001, comparative fit index (CFI) = .91, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = .90, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .063 (confidence interval [CI]: [.060, .067]). The model showed a significant negative pathway between parenting stress and parents’ technology mediation ((β = -.11, p < .05), demonstrating that, overall, parenting stress was associated with less time monitoring children’s media use. Conversely, the model showed a positive pathway between parents’ well being and their technology mediation (β = .15, p = .005), demonstrating that parents’ well-being was associated with more media monitoring time. Further, parents who felt less prepared to manage their child(ren)’s media use during the shelter-in-place period were more likely to experience parenting stress (β = .12, p < .001).
The current research advances the discussion of media guidance for families of young children at home with consideration for environmental contexts of parents well-being and stress. Discussion is focused on how to best support parents as virtual workplaces and online learning continue and become more commonplace during surges of COVID-19 variants.

Authors

• Jes Fyall Cardenas, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
  Presenting Author

• Rebecca L Densley, Trinity University - San Antonio

• Willow Sauermilch

• Shannon Bichard, Texas Tech University