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Symposium II: "Predictors and outcomes of digital media use in Swiss preschool-aged children. Concepts and preliminary results of the SWIPE spinoff projects"
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Predictors and outcomes of digital media use in Swiss preschool-aged children. Concepts and preliminary results of the SWIPE spinoff projects. Digital media is a central part of modern life, significantly impacting both adults and children. The use of screens by children is a widely debated topic due to concerns about potential risks. The SWIPE Study (SWIss study on Preschool screen Exposure) is a nationwide project in Switzerland that investigates how young children and their parents engage with digital media. The study involves over 3,500 parents with children aged from birth to five years across various regions of Switzerland. In addition to the main research on the frequency and nature of digital media use within families, several spinoff projects explore additional research questions. In this session, three of these spinoff studies will be presented, focusing on their concepts, data analysis plans, and preliminary findings. Specifically, these spinoffs examine associations with children's emotional and behavioral disorders, children's media fandom, and parental expectations of educational professionals. Presentations of the Symposium Behavior, emotions and media use in early childhood - interrelations between young children's screen time, mental health problems and parental emotion regulation Early childhood is an extremely fundamental phase for the behavioral and emotional development of children due to the rapid brain development during this period in life. In early childhood, children acquire, among other things, socio- emotional skills in interactions with their environment. If important developmental stimuli are not provided during this early developmental phase, or if the wrong stimuli are encountered, it can have consequences well into adulthood. Some studies show that excessive consumption of digital media in early childhood may impact neurodevelopment with a potentially unfavorable effect on the development of various behavioral and emotional competencies. However, especially for infants and toddlers, the association between screen media exposure and developmental outcomes is still very limited. In our spin-off study, we focus on the potential effects of screen media use by children as well as their parents on emotional and behavioral problems in children aged 0 to 5 years. We expect an association of child screen media exposure (longer duration, passive versus more active consumption, and use interfering with daily routines) with emotional and behavioral difficulties. In addition, we expect that children will have more emotional and behavioral difficulties if their parents use their smartphones during parent-child interactions more often. Acknowledging that this relationship is complex, we will evaluate moderating factors influencing the impact of early media use on social-emotional development like child age and gender, parental emotion regulation, or socio-economic status. Media fandom between parents and children We explore the concept of intergenerational media fandom between parents and children, offering preliminary results from our SWIPE spin-off. Media fandom, characterized by passionate and creative engagement with popular texts, has largely overlooked young children, despite their early participation in fan-like behaviors such as imaginative play, cosplay, and media rewriting. Drawing on insights from Kyra Hunting (2019) and other foundational works, this study fills a crucial gap by focusing on children under 6, a demographic often ignored in fandom research. Methodologically, the spin-off adapts the Fan Identity Questionnaire (Lozano et al., 2020) to assess fan behavior through four dimensions: experience, viewing, collecting, and knowledge. We will address the challenges of studying young children by collecting data from parents as intermediaries, allowing for better access, consent, and insights into how children may be socialized into fandom through their parents. Additionally, we examine the reverse socialization process, how children’s engagement with media may influence their parents’ fan experiences. This spin-off offers insights into the current state and future trajectory of fan cultures, expanding the understanding of how early childhood experiences shape fan identities and the intergenerational dynamics of fandom in contemporary society. Parents' expectations and wishes for pedagogical professionals Children’s daily lives are increasingly shaped by digital devices. Early childhood media use mainly takes place in two settings: the family and educational institutions. The younger a child is, the more these environments influence media-related factors such as duration, content, and function. Therefore, sustainable digital education should be viewed as a shared responsibility between families and educational institutions. This spin-off examines the importance of media-related cooperation between educational institutions (e.g., daycare centers) and parents. Using the Spinoff questionnaire, we aim to identify parents’ expectations and wishes towards early childhood professionals and educational settings regarding digital media use. Do parents consider early childhood settings as "safe spaces" where children are sheltered from media exposure, or do they view professionals as valuable resources for early childhood media education? The spin-off provides insights into preliminary results and opens up a discussion on conceptual considerations in this field. | |