Parents’ Active Engagement Mediates the Impact of Background TV on Toddlers’ Play

• In Event: Powerful Parents, Powerful Peers? Perhaps: When, If, and How Parents and Peers Influence Children amd Teens' Media Experiences (HHD Session)

Abstract

Background TV (BTV) negatively affects the quantity and quality of toddlers’ toy play and parent-child interactions. The purpose of the current study was to consider these two outcomes simultaneously using an ecological-systems approach by examining the extent to which parent engagement mediates the impact of BTV on children’s play. Toddlers (12-36 mos, N = 51) played in a comfortably furnished observation lab. Parents were instructed to act as they normally would during leisure time. For one half-hour, an adult-directed television program played in the background; for the other half-hour, the television was off. Findings reveal an indirect negative effect of BTV on the proportion of time that children played with toys, which was completely mediated by parents’ active engagement in toy play with their children. These findings further emphasize the importance of considering the social context in which media exposure occurs.

Authors

• Heather Kirkorian, U of Wisconsin-Madison

• Koeun Choi, U of California - Riverside

• Daniel R. Anderson, U of Massachusetts