Predicting Children’s Media Use: Within Time vs. Over Time Differences

The purpose of this paper is to examine the predictors of children’s media use within time and over time. Data come from waves 1 and 2 of the Child Development Supplement (CDS-I; CDS-II), a nationally representative sample of children ages 0-12 in 1997 and 5-18 in 2002. 24-hour time use diaries are used to assess children’s time spent with media (television, video games, computer, and reading). Predictors examined include child characteristics, socioeconomic context, neighborhood quality, the family context in which children live. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Multiple Regression is used. Socioeconomic context is significant to predict video games and computer use. Neighborhood quality is a significant factor to predict media use of children in early school age within time and over time. While parent limit setting has relationships with media within time, family conflict was associated with media use over time. This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence for the effect of early contextual factors on the life course of children’s media use.

Publisher: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, San Francisco, CA, May 23, 2007
Year of Publication: 2007