Lock, talk, or stop? measuring how parents mediate their young children’s use of digital devices in the Malaysian context

• Main Authors: Mohd Mahudin, Nor Diana, Janon, Nazariah Shar'ie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institut Penyiaran dan Penerangan Tun Abdul Razak, Kementerian Komunikasi dan Multimedia 2022
• Subjects: BF176 Psychological tests and testing; BF636 Applied psychology; HQ503 The family. Marriage. Home; T Technology (General); T58.5 Information technology
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/101406/7/101406_Lock%2C%20talk%2C%20or%20stop%20measuring.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/101406/; http://www.ipptar.gov.my/index.php/ejurnal-2022/ejurnal-2/23-ejurnal/366-ejurnal2-71
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

The impact of the use of, and exposure to, digital devices is more pronounced on young children. This impact, however, can be mitigated by parental mediation. Although several scales have been developed to measure parental mediation, they tend to demonstrate a western focus, youth-oriented, or confined to educational settings. This study adapted and investigated the psychometric properties of the Parental Mediation Practices Scale (PMPS) in a Malaysian sample. Three hundred and forty parents who met the inclusion criteria participated in this study. The factor structure, internal consistency, correlational analyses, and mean differences by category groupings of parent’s gender, age, and education levels, as well as children’s gender, age, frequency of digital device use, and time spent, were examined. The principal axis factoring results revealed a five-factor structure accounting for 66.65% of the total variance. The internal consistencies of the sub-scales were excellent, ranging from .88 to .97. All sub-scales were also intercorrelated, with coefficients of association ranging from .527 to .794. Parental mediation of young children’s digital devices was found to differentiate based on the child’s age, parent’s age, and educational levels. In conclusion, the PMPS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing parental mediation practices among Malaysian populations.