Parents and video games 11
Although the regression analyses revealed a weak relation between parental beliefs about the
effects of video games and the three types of mediation, we cannot conclude that these beliefs actually
predict parental mediation. In each of the three regression analyses, parental beliefs about possible
positive and negative effects of video games only added 1 to 3 per cent to the total variance explained.
Parental mediation and children’s video gaming
A second set of multiple regression analyses was conducted to determine to what extent parental
mediation and parental beliefs about game effects were related to the game behavior of children (R
3
). The
three mediation strategies and the two types of parental views about game effects (positive and negative)
were used as predictors of playing video games in general and of playing ‘inappropriate’ games in
particular. All predictors were entered in one step into the regression analysis (see Table 5).
---- Insert Table 5 about here ----
Children who more often play video games are more often exposed to evaluative mediation. In addition,
they have parents who are more convinced of the positive effects of games on children’s knowledge and
social-emotional well-being, but not of the positive effects on intellectual capacities. In the same vein,
these parents are less convinced of the negative effects on children’s behavior and attitudes. Children who
often play ‘inappropriate’ games are also more often subjected to the evaluative mediation, but more
frequently so than the ordinary heavy gamers of the first group. In addition, their parents are only
somewhat more convinced of the negative behavioral and attitudinal effects of video games. At the same
time, however, the heavy gamers are less often restricted in their playing sessions. Finally, the analyses
show that the extent to which parents play together with their children does not predict game frequency in
general, nor the playing of inappropriate games. So, conscious co-playing does not stimulate children to
play more or to pick more forbidden fruits, that is, playing games that are considered inappropriate for
them.
Discussion
In the last decade of the previous century the media landscape of most children changed drastically.
Children no longer just watch television, they also spend a considerable amount of time on new electronic
media as personal computers, and game consoles (Livingstone & Bovill, 2002). In response, parents
readjusted their child rearing practices: They seemed less involved in their children’s media use (Pasquier,
2001), whereas the children themselves were more likely to share their media experiences with their peers
than with their parents (Bovill & Livingstone, 2001). This study nevertheless established that parents are
actively involved in their children’s activities in the new media landscape. We found that parents mediate
their children’s video gaming in much the same way as they mediate television viewing. This result
confirms what was found in the relatively limited research of Skoien and Berthelsen (1996). The
Convention