Examining the effects of parents' 'new media' engagement on the wellbeing of children
Creators: name: PURWATI, Yenny
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 380399
subject: Economic theory not elsewhere classified

description: The notion of `new media' engagement, specifically engagement through mobile devices, has been attracting considerable attention from marketing scholars. Companies increasingly seek to increase their engagement with consumers through mobile devices by creating platforms such as advergames and branded mobile applications. However, this increasing engagement with mobile devices may generate deleterious outcomes for consumers' lives. Drawing on social marketing that has sought to empower consumers in overcoming the adverse effects of technology consumption, this thesis investigates the relationships between the gratifications arising from mobile device use, personality traits (Big Five personalities and exhibitionist narcissism), family communication patterns, parents' engagement with mobile devices while interacting with their children, the parent-child relationship, and the wellbeing of the children. 

Building on the socio-technological framework, the thesis developed a conceptual model and formulated three research questions. The first research question identified parents' gratifications from using mobile devices during parent-child interactions. The second research question investigated the relationship between these mobile device gratifications, personality traits, family communication patterns, and parents' engagement with mobile devices. The aim was to identify the drivers for parents' mobile device engagement while interacting with their children. The third research question investigated dyadic perspectives on the relationship between parents' mobile device engagement, the parent-child relationship, and the wellbeing of the children. 

A cross-sectional survey was distributed to 427 parent-child dyads through five participating schools in Central Java province, Indonesia. Of the 427 questionnaires distributed, 341 dyads returned completed questionnaires. After data cleansing, the final study sample comprised of 272 parents, 284 children, and 267 dyads. The results revealed that parents use their devices while interacting with their children for sociability and out of habit, for information-seeking, task management, communication, and entertainment. Further, the findings indicated that the ritual gratifications (e.g. entertainment) had the most substantial relationship with parents¿ absorption in their mobile devices while interacting with their children. 
The impact of personality traits and family communication style are also crucial in determining parents' motivations for using mobile devices while interacting with their children and their absorption in these devices. With respect to parents' motivations for using mobile devices during parent-child interactions, exhibitionist narcissism and conformity orientation are associated with both instrumental and ritual gratifications. Likewise, parents who score high in neuroticism are more likely to use their devices for ritual gratifications. Additionally, parents with conversation-oriented communication patterns use their devices for instrumental purposes, specifically for information-seeking. As to parents' mobile device engagement, parents who score high in extraversion, exhibitionist narcissism or neuroticism are more likely to be highly absorbed in their devices while interacting with their children. 

Both parents and children realised distraction by mobile devices during family time is a normal part of their lives in the digital world. Parents are less likely to perceive the negative effect of their engagement with mobile devices during family time on the parent-child relationship compared to children. Parents' cognitive and affective engagement with mobile devices was found to be negatively associated with the child's psychological wellbeing and the child's social wellbeing. The thesis anticipated that the effect of parents' mobile device engagement would differ in families with extended family support. However, multigroup analysis failed to support this conjecture.

From a theoretical perspective this research contributes to the body of knowledge by focusing on parents' absorption in their mobile device to understand the impact of parents' mobile device engagement on their children. It identifies motivations for parents' mobile device use during parent-child interactions. It contributes to the application of the socio-technological model by empirically testing the links between mobile device gratifications, personality traits, family communication patterns, parents' mobile device engagement, the parent-child relationship, and the wellbeing of the children. 

In terms of methodological contributions, this research obtained data from both parents and children to better examine the potential impact of parents' mobile device engagement on children. Parents' perceptions of the adverse effects of mobile device engagement during parent-child interactions may differ from those of their children because of the differences in developmental stages and motivations between family members. The practical implications of this research are to provide valuable insights into the actions that parents, educators, policymakers, and social marketers.  The outcome of this thesis provides information for parents in regulating their own mobile device use during family time and strategies for assisting children to establish their own healthy mobile device use habits. The results help educators in developing education programs for both children and parents to mitigate the adverse effects of mobile devices use, such as promoting joint mobile device engagement to increase verbal communication and joint activity. Next, this research offers information for policymakers and businesses in developing mobile applications or online assessment tools to facilitate parents and children in evaluating their mobile devices use and their behaviour towards family members while engaging with mobile devices. Additionally, the thesis informs social marketers of the need for further action to assess the effectiveness of existing social campaigns and interventions in promoting healthy use of mobile devices