Media influence on emotional development of preschool children

U suvremenom društvu svaka nova generacija djece odrasta u okolini koja je sve bogatija novim medijima i njihovim sadržajima te sve više njih sjedi kod kuće za kompjuterom ili je na mobilnom uređaju, umjesto da se vani igra s ostalom djecom. Sukladno tome, mijenja se i potencijalni utjecaj medija na djecu ili, točnije rečeno, percepcija tog utjecaja (Ilišin i sur., 2001). Emocionalni razvoj događa se prema određenim fazama. Razvojne faze su uvjetovane biološkim sazrijevanjem, sve složenijim situacijama u djetetovom okruženju, kao i sazrijevanjem intelektualnih sposobnosti koje omogućuju djetetu razumijevanje situacije i planiranje vlastitog ponašanja (Starc i sur., 2004). Cilj je ovog diplomskog rada je utvrditi i analizirati odnos medija i emocionalne regulacije kod djece predškolske dobi. Analizom podataka prikupljenih ček listom regulacije emocija, autora Shilds i Cicchetti, 1995 (Emotion regulation checklist), te upitnikom o dječjem korištenju medija na uzorku od 391 ispitanika, došlo je do zaključka kako djeca predškolske dobi ispred malih ekrana dnevno provode 1 do 2 sata, dok se vikendom vrijeme korištenja poveća i djeca najviše vremena provode uz televiziju i računalo. Početak korištenja medija veže se uz prve godine života djeteta i to uz televiziju. Hipoteze u kojima se pretpostavlja da djeca mogu izabirati sama što žele gledati, da se veliki broj djece zna samostalno koristiti Internetom i da postoje ograničenja od strane roditelja kod dječjeg korištenja medija, su potvrđene. Također, postoji negativna korelacija između obrazovanja roditelja i dječjeg korištenja medija te da zbog svakodnevne i stalne izloženosti medijima, postoji i negativna povezanost između regulacije emocija kod djece i korištenja tableta.In today's society, every new generation of children has grown up in an environment that has been enriched by new media and their content is increasingly sitting in a computer home or on mobile devices that can be played with other children. Accordingly, the potential impact of the media on children also changes, or, more precisely, perception changes the impact (Ilishin et al. 2001). In the context of this paper, we primarily deal with our media, or they affect the emotional development of children, that is, the regulation of emotions. Emotional development occurs at certain stages. The developmental stages are conditioned by biological maturation, increasingly complex situations in the child's environment, as well as the maturation of intellectual abilities that enable the child to understand the situation and panic of their own behaviors (Starc et al, 2004). The aim of this thesis is to determine and analyze the relationships between media and emotional regulation in preschool children. An analysis of the data collected by the Emotion Regulation Checklist by Emotional regulation checklist (1995) and a questionnaire on children's media use in a sample of 391 subjects concluded that pre-school children spend 1 to 2 hours daily in front of small screens on weekends use times increase and children spend most of their time watching television and computers. The beginning of the use of the media is connected with the first years of the child's life and with television. The hypotheses that children are assumed to be free to choose what they want to watch, that a large number of children know how to use the Internet on their own, and that there are restrictions on the use of the media by their parents are confirmed. Also, there is a negative correlation between parental education and children's use of the media, and due to daily and ongoing media exposure, there is also a negative correlation between emotion regulation in children and tablet use