Parental beliefs and motivation are instrumental in improving childhood digital media use (DMU). Parents (n = 611) completed questionnaires about childhood DMU assessing knowledge, interest in counseling, motivation to change,… Click to show full abstract
Parental beliefs and motivation are instrumental in improving childhood digital media use (DMU). Parents (n = 611) completed questionnaires about childhood DMU assessing knowledge, interest in counseling, motivation to change, self-efficacy, and beliefs. Less than a third correctly recognized screen time limits. Twenty-seven percent received childhood DMU information from a doctor, while 46% stated they would like such information. Only 2% had a doctor-recommended DMU plan. Interest in DMU topics, motivation to improve, and management self-efficacy were moderate. Top negative beliefs were addiction to DMU (52%), sleep problems (39%), obesity (33%), social skills (33%), and inappropriate content (32%). Differences between age categories existed for social (48%, P = .01) and language (14%, P = .01) concerns (highest for toddlers), attention concerns (27%, P = .02; highest in preschoolers), and depression (13%, P < .001) and low self-esteem (8%, P = .04; highest in teens). Findings support further development of approaches to address DMU, tailored by age-specific common parental views.
               
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