The moderating role of parenting on the relationship between parental media mediation and parent-child conflict

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the moderating role of parenting in the relationship between parental media mediation strategies and parent-child conflict. 136 Participants consisted of parents with a child between 44-75 months of age (M=58.64 months, SD= 8.364 months). The data were collected through the Parent Media Mediation Scale, The Turkish Form of the Child Rearing Questionnaire, and the Child-Parent Relationship Scale. First, a moderation analysis model was created to understand the relationship between parenting (parental warmth/ obedience demanding behavior), parental media mediation strategies (active mediation/ restrictive mediation) and parent-child conflict as a dependent variable. The results showed a negative relationship between active media mediation and parent-child conflict, while a negative relationship was found between restrictive media mediation and parent-child conflict. The moderation analysis did not find the moderating role of parenting in media mediation and parent-child conflict. Moreover, the screen time children spend for social media use and playing games on weekdays and weekends has a negative significant relationship with parental media mediation, while it has a significant positive relationship with parent-child conflict. The findings highlight the importance of parent-child conflict in the context of parent media mediation and parenting attitudes and the parent-child relationship. The research on the regulation strategies adopted by parents in their children's media use in early childhood and the role of parenting in the parent-child conflict relationship is limited. Thus, despite its limitations, it is feasible to say that findings of the present study well to the field.