Parents' profiles concerning ICT proficiency and their relation to adolescents' information literacy: A latent profile analysis approach
Authors: Wu Di , Yu Liqin , Yang Harrison Hao , Zhu Sha , Tsai Chin‐Chung 
Published: January 2020

Given the pivotal role of parents in their children's educational development, numerous studies have examined the impacts of parents' information and communications technology (ICT) proficiency on adolescents' information literacy. However, previous research has tended to treat parents as a holistic unit, ignoring the individual uniqueness of each parent in analyses. Thus, the first aim of this study was to explore the parent profiles in terms of ICT proficiency, which were developed through a person‐centered approach employing latent profile analysis. Three distinct parent profiles were identified: quiescent users, compliant users and active users. The second aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the parents' profile memberships and adolescents' information literacy. The results showed that, in general, adolescents whose parents were identified as active users and compliant users tended to perform better on an information literacy test than those of parents categorized as quiescent users. More specifically, those adolescents whose parents were classified as active users achieved significantly higher scores in the information literacy test than those of parents who fit within the profiles of compliant users and quiescent users. Based on the findings, this paper discusses several implications and strategies for enhancing the adolescents' information literacy.

Practitioner Notes

What is already known about this topic

Information literacy is a critical competence for adolescents, and the cultivation of adolescents' information literacy is a complex process which requires the joint effort of schools, communities and families.

Parents are highly involved in adolescents' education, and parental involvement significantly influences their behaviors, attitudes, aspirations and motivations. Many studies have demonstrated that parents' ICT proficiency, such as their ICT self‐efficacy and ICT attitudes, does affect the adolescents' information literacy.

What this paper adds

Most studies in this subject‐area treat parents as a holistic unit without considering the differences in each parent's ICT proficiency. This paper contributes towards a more complex understanding of the differences in parental influences on the adolescents' information literacy.

This paper identifies three distinct profiles categorizing parents' ICT proficiency: compliant users, quiescent users and active users. Adolescents whose parents were identified as active users and compliant users tended to perform better on an information literacy test than those of parents categorized as quiescent users.

Adolescents whose parents can be considered active users achieved significantly higher scores in the information literacy test than those of parents who fit within the profiles of compliant users and quiescent users.

Implications for practice and/or policy

Several practical interventions can be implemented to address the deficiencies in parents' ICT proficiency. An initial action would be to arouse awareness among parents. For parents profiled as compliant users, social and public welfare organizations could organize public lectures to convey the importance of parents' ICT proficiency in the cultivation of their children's information literacy. In addition, schools could provide opportunities for regular parent‐school communication to help parents identify and understand the importance of their role in the cultivation of their children's information literacy.

A second intervention would be to work towards improving the ICT proficiency of those parents categorized as quiescent users and compliant users. Governments need to forge partnerships with the local community organizations and schools to provide training for parents in basic ICT knowledge and skills, with the aim of enhancing parents' ICT self‐efficacy. Schools could conduct workshops, organize face‐to‐face information sharing sessions and provide online platforms for parents to discuss how best to mediate children's ICT use at home. Finally, in collaboration with schools, educators and researchers could develop homework projects to increase parental involvement in children's ICT use at home, which could simultaneously enrich parents' ICT usage experience and provide guidance for parents in terms of supporting their children's ICT learning at home.