PARENTAL MONITORING, MEDIA LITERACY, AND MEDIA VIOLENCE: A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF THE FOURTH R PARENT MEDIA VIOLENCE WORKSHOP

• Published in: International journal of child, youth & family studies IJCYFS Vol. 4; no. 2; p. 301
• Main Authors: Broll, Ryan, Crooks, Claire V., Burns, Shanna, Hughes, Ray, Jaffe, Peter G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Victoria University of Victoria, Department of Linguistics 01.01.2013; University of Victoria
• Subjects: Childrearing practices; Children; Consumption; healthy youth relationships; Literacy; Mass media effects; media consumption; Media Literacy; Media violence; parent education; Parent-child relations; parental monitoring; Parents; Parents & parenting; Protective factors; rule setting; Violence; Workshops; Youth
• ISSN: 1920-7298; 1920-7298
• DOI: 10.18357/ijcyfs42201311602

As youth's lives have become increasingly infused with all types of media, debates regarding the effect of violent media on youth have emerged. Within this debate, parental monitoring has been identified as an important protective factor against some negative outcomes. Accordingly, the Fourth R Parent Media Violence Workshop was developed to educate parents about the importance of setting rules around media use and to encourage parents to monitor their children's media consumption. Two waves of data were collected six months apart (nTime 1=226, nTime 2=52) with parents who attended the workshop, and results indicate that parents engaged in enhanced, appropriately restrictive and active monitoring practices following the workshop. A significant decrease in children's media consumption was also reported between Time 1 and Time 2. The results provide preliminary evidence to suggest that even short, one-time intensive workshops for parents can move parents' behaviours in the intended direction and positively impact their monitoring strategies.