Mobile device use by young children: a pilot study of its relationship with parental burnout, parental mediation strategies, mindfulness, and children's self-regulation

• Main Authors: Muhd Fauzi, Nur Raihan, Mohd Mahudin, Nor Diana
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universitas Islam Bandung 2021
• Subjects: BF636 Applied psychology; H61.8 Communication of information; T58.5 Information technology
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/96931/1/Muhd%20Fauzi%20%26%20Mohd%20Mahudin%202021.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/96931/7/96931_Mobile%20device%20use%20by%20young%20children.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/96931/; https://youtu.be/czSCxfRepeE

Due to COVID-19, parental burnout has surged globally, impacting parents’ responsibility to mediate children’s mobile device use. This, in turn, leads to a decline in children’s developmental trajectory. Fortunately, mindfulness has been extensively studied for its efficiency in improving an individual’s well-being. However, few studies have explored the moderating role of mindfulness between parental burnout and parental mediation strategies and its subsequent influence on young children’s self-regulation. Against this background, a pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility, usability, and reliability of the survey questionnaire, which consisted of four scales on burnout, parental mediation strategies, mindfulness, and children’s self-regulation. Data were collected from 44 participants from four local ethnicities. All participants were Malaysians, dual-working parents, and have children between 0-6 years old. Reliability analyses for the scales were obtained via Cronbach’s alpha. Apart from language barrier issues, the structure, layout, and response rate of the survey are acceptable. Based on these findings, an adaptation of the survey is needed for the subsequent studies.