Poster #79 - Caregivers’ Active Participation in Preschoolers’ Play and Television Use on Age Salient Behaviors

• In Event: Poster Session 09

Abstract

The preschool age is a time when the frequency of television consumption increases, and the influence of television is salient (Kostyrka-Allchorne et al., 2017). Previous research has found that active parental mediation of television (i.e., parents talk to their children about the content they are watching) can reduce the effects of television violence on older children’s behavior (Beyens et al., 2019), but there is a lack of research exploring if and how parental mediation relate to behavior at the preschool level, despite the salience of TV watching at this age. Additionally, play is a salient behavior for young children and relates to important age-salient outcomes (e.g., Marcelo & Yates, 2014). Studies have shown that the majority of parents believe play to be an important activity in their child’s development (Marzouk, 2021), however, there is a gap in the literature exploring if and how parents’ beliefs about play, specifically to what extent they engage with their children through play, relate to children’s socioemotional behaviors. Thus, the present study explores relation between caregivers’ active participation in age salient activities, (i.e., play and television viewing), and age-salient behaviors (i.e., aggressive and prosocial behaviors) of preschool aged children.

136 caregivers (54.4% male; 61.8% White, 25.7% Black, 12.5% Asian, 8.8% Latinx, 5.1% Native American or Alaskan Native, 1.5% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, .7% Middle Eastern) of children ages 4-6 completed an anonymous survey. Caregivers completed the parental play belief scale (Fogle & Mendez, 2006) to assess their attitudes towards play and playing with their child. The PPBS has two subscales: play support–how caregivers believe play is an important behavior for their child–and academic focus–how caregivers believe academic activities are more important than play. Caregivers then completed a scale assessing three styles of television mediation: instructive, restrictive, and social coviewing (Valkenburg et al., 1999). Finally, caregivers completed scales for aggressive and prosocial behaviors (Dodge & Coie, 1987; Goodman, 2001).

Findings illustrate that higher active play participation, as measured by play support, related to lower aggressive behavior(r = -.302, p<.01) and higher prosocial behavior (r = .452, p<.01). Although there was no significant correlation between any television mediation style and aggressive behavior, there was a significant, positive relation between instructive mediation and prosocial behavior (r = .308, p <.01) and a significant, positive relation between social coviewing and prosocial behavior (r = .174, p<.05).

These findings indicate that parental involvement in age-salient activities–play and TV watching–relate to age-salient behaviors-aggressive and prosocial behaviors. The strong relation between greater parental play beliefs and greater prosocial behavior points to play as a potential avenue for promoting adaptive, prosocial behaviors and reducing maladaptive, aggressive behaviors. Further, engagement in active television mediation with their child through instructive mediation and social coviewing is an opportunity for caregivers to promote prosocial behavior. Parents serve an important role in their child’s socioemotional development, and through active participation in play and television watching, they can help children to gain better prosocial skills and reduce aggressive behaviors.

Authors

• Benjamin Wolff, Clark University
  Presenting Author

• Ana Kamille Marcelo, Clark University