An integrated model of parental mediation: the effect of family communication on children's perception of television reality and negative viewing effects

Abstract

This study proposed and tested an integrated model of parental mediation involving family communication, parental mediation styles, children’s perceptions of televised realities and the actual world, and perceptions of the negative effects of television viewing. A total of 348 Korean adolescents participated in a nationwide survey. The findings demonstrated that parental, instructive media-tion, in combination with open family communication, increased not only children’s perceived disparity between televised realities and the actual world, but also children’s perceptions of the potentially negative effects of television. Restrictive parental mediation styles were also found to mediate the role of open family communication on children’s perception of negative effects of television. In contrast, co-viewing mediation was not found to directly affect either the children’s perceived reality or their perception of negative effects of television viewing.