Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

Jan Heim, Petter Bae Brandtzæg, Birgit Hertzberg Kaare, Tor Endestad, and Leila Torgersen. Children’s Usage of Media Technologies and Psychosocial Factors. New Media & Society, June 2007; vol. 9, 3: pp. 425–454.

Media use has changed considerably during the past 5 years and earlier research has produced contradictory results on how media use links to children’s psychosocial factors. This study charts the access to and use of several media technologies among 825 Norwegian schoolchildren between 10 and 12 years of age. The questionnaire contained items concerning children’s self-concept, parental monitoring, and social competence. It found that children engage with different kind of media activities and some of these are significantly related to psychosocial factors, however, these correlations were in general quite small. Entertainment usage was associated with low scholastic competence. Both utility usage and heavy advanced usage of new media were related to self-perceptions of athletic competence. Low social acceptance was linked to Gameboy usage and advanced usage of media. Finally, there was a relationship between experienced parental monitoring and utility usage of media technology. The possible implications for these empirical relations are discussed.

Kara G. Liebeskind, Jessica T. Piotrowski, Matthew A. Lapierre, and Deborah L. Linebarger. The Home Literacy Environment: Exploring How Media and Parent-Child Interactions Are Associated with Children’s Language Production. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, December 2014; vol. 14, 4: pp. 482–509.

Children who start school with strong language skills initiate a trajectory of academic success, while children with weaker skills are likely to struggle. Research has demonstrated that media and parent–child interactions, both characteristics of the home literacy environment, influence children’s language skills. Using a national sample of American parents of children aged 8–36 months (n = 500), this study evaluated how media and parent–child interactions are associated with children’s language skills. Results indicated a positive association between literacy-based parent–child interactions and children’s language production. The association between access to radios and children’s books was mediated by parent–child interactions.