Understanding the Media Ecology of the Home: The Role of Parental Media Use and Attitudes on the Frequency of Child Media Use

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

Abstract

Adolescents are regular media users and research regularly examines the consequences of such use. This research, however, generally does not examine the greater context in which the child is growing up. Framed by Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1978) and ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), this study focuses on the family context and studies parents’ media use behaviors and attitudes toward technology as a proxy of the home media use environment. Using data from a nationally representative sample of parents of children ages 8 to 18 years (N = 1819), this study documents that parents of children and adolescents are heavy and regular media users, and that parental media use and parent attitudes about technology play a powerful role in predicting children’s media use. These findings shed light on the media ecology of the homes of American tweens and teens, with implications for understanding tween’s and teens own media use behaviors.

Authors

• Alexis Lauricella, Northwestern U

• Drew Cingel, U of California -- Davis