Parental strategies for limiting youths’ exposure to online risks

Abstract

Given the new risks and opportunities generated by the use of the Internet since childhood, it seems necessary to deepen the parental mediation strategies with which parents can protect their children from exposure to online risks, perpetration of inappropriate behaviours online and psychosocial risks associated with a dysfunctional use of the web. This scoping review aims to analyse the literature of the last ten years on the strategies and attitudes of parents towards online risks. Twenty-nine scientific documents about parental mediation outcomes on children’s use of digital tools have been examined. Literature has been investigated in the PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus databases. Only studies with a paediatric population published in the last ten years (from 2009) have been selected. The results suggest that empathy and interest are protective factors towards the exposure and perpetration of online risks of children, without limiting the opportunities offered by the Web.

Feasibility and Early Outcomes of a Parent Training Intervention to Engage Parents in Children’s Media Education

“…Among the best known and most studied are restrictive mediation, which involves impositions and limits on browsing, and active mediation, which involves promoting open discussions about the risks and opportunities of the Web. Both types of mediation seem to limit problematic online behaviors and risks experienced online by the children; however, excessive controls and restrictions can limit children's opportunities to use the Internet for positive purposes and their digital skills [6]. Moreover, a protective factor in young people's Internet use appears to be a good relationships with their parents [7].…”