Parental Mediation of Media Effects
There is much concern over the negative effects of television viewing on children. Children who watch more television are at a greater risk of experiencing a host of negative outcomes compared to children who watch less television. The good news is that parents can modify or even prevent television-related effects by engaging in a variety of practices known as "mediation."
What Is Mediation?
Mediation has not been defined consistently. As a result, many different definitions of this term exist. However, researchers endorsing the various conceptualizations agree that mediation refers to interactions with children about television. Although a number of individuals can provide mediation, such as siblings, peers, and adults, the term is commonly used to signal parent-child interaction. The focus of this entry, therefore, is on parental mediation.
Parental mediation can take several different forms. Amy Nathanson (1999) has distinguished these forms as active mediation, restrictive mediation, and coviewing. Active mediation refers to the conversations that parents can have with their children about television. Sometimes these conversations are generally negative in tone, such as when parents tell their children that what they are seeing on television is not real or that they disapprove of the behaviors of the television characters or the program in general.
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