Interactional theory of childhood problematic media use

Abstract

The growth of mobile device access and ownership has yielded many opportunities and challenges for raising healthy digital media consumers. As adoption of mobile and internet-connected devices has increased among children, concerns for healthy child development have been expressed regarding excessive or problematic use. Although much theoretical and empirical work has been conducted evaluating adolescents' and adults' risks for dependence on various screen media (e.g., Gaming Disorder, Internet Addiction), little theoretical consideration has been expounded regarding the etiology and maintenance of problematic media use earlier in childhood (i.e., under age 12 years). The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework through which to investigate problematic media use in early childhood. Our theory, the Interactional Theory of Childhood Problematic Media Use (IT-CPU) merges developmental and clinical psychology theories, with communication and humancomputer interaction perspectives. We outline distal and proximal factors that we hypothesize contribute to the development of problematic media use in childhood, and emphasize maintaining factors that could be targets for intervention. Finally, we provide recommendations for an interdisciplinary research agenda to test our proposed theory and inform experimental trials to prevent and treat childhood problematic media use.

Children’s screen and problematic media use in the United States before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Parents at different income levels were also facing different levels of stress during the pandemic, which could affect the family and media environments (Cluver et al, 2020). One of the distal factors in Domoff et al's (2020) IT-CPU is SES/poverty, and so families at lower levels of SES could have much different experiences of problematic media use compared to the families in the current sample given higher economic stress during the pandemic. These factors, taken together, mean that the findings are limited in generalizability due to the demographics and convenience nature of the sample.…”

“…Rather, these negative effects and associations stem from various factors: how the media are used, what the media are, the characteristics of the child using the media, and so on. Domoff et al, ( 2020 ) recently elucidated an Interactional Theory of Childhood Problematic Media Use (IT‐CPU), an extension of Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model that emphasizes the proximal, distal, and maintaining factors that can lead to the emergence of problematic media use. Distal factors, such as household chaos and digital environmental design, can exert their influence on proximal factors like a child's characteristics, parent media use and beliefs, and peer technology access.…”

A qualitative case study about overuse of digital play at home

“…Specifically, McDaniel and Radesky ( 2017 ) revealed that parents introduce digital media to their toddlers or pre-schoolers during family activities such as meals, doctor visits, or car drives. Again challenging behaviors and emotional dysregulation have been shared by parents as reasons for young children’s problematic digital media use (Domoff, Borgen, & Radesky, 2020 ). A child’s gender is an important factor concerning access to digital tools and parental mediation of digital play.…”

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Problematic Media Use: Perceptions of Caregivers of High-Risk Youth

“…Assessing adolescents’ perceptions of their own problematic use may also be informative. Examining the mechanisms of influence (i.e., self-regulation deficits related to early disrupted attachment as well as those proposed by Domoff et al) is critical to inform intervention [ 21 ]. Including parental monitoring or other media parenting practices is also recommended as these variables may moderate the impact of ACEs on problematic media use.…”

“…Poor self-regulation has been found to be associated both with number of ACEs and increased problematic media use [ 13 , 20 ]. Other potential mechanisms associated with problematic media use include lack of household structure, poor child self-efficacy, and strained parent-child relationships [ 21 ]. Additionally, parenting stress has been found to mediate the association between ACEs and increased media use [ 16 ].…”