Occupational Identity and Family “Screen Time” Decisions

Statement of Purpose: This study explores parents reasoning about “screen time” use with their children. A 2011 recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics was for no screen time for children under the age of 2. Contrary to this recommendation parents have been allowing and even encouraging screen use in growing numbers. The purpose of the study was to explore how parents reacted to the controversy in the media about children’s access to information and communication technologies and what factors they felt were important to their family. Description of Methods: This phenomenological study is based on semi-structured interviews. Participants were parents of children below the age of 8, recruited through snowball sampling. Data Collection: A questionnaire was developed to guide the interview and assure consistency in topics covered. Interviews were audiotaped and written notes were also taken during all communications with participants. Interview audiotapes were transcribed. Analysis: 18 interviews have been completed and coded using framework analysis. In some interviews follow up contact was made to clarify the context of the participant’s response in order to aid interpretation and to explore more deeply disconfirming cases. Report of Results: Preliminary findings are that all of the participants have established rules that in some way limits the child’s screen time. The time children were most likely to be allowed screen time were during transition times. The following factors influenced parental reasoning about screen time: social norms and expectations, parent-child co-occupational activities, underlying habits and routines, identities, and parental role demands. Implications: Key considerations are the changing patterns of occupational engagement of both parents and young children around the widespread use of touch screen interactive devices as a form of recreation. This research can extend understandings of sociocultural factors impacting parental role identity and parent-child co-occupations. Second, with the changing nature of children’s lives in the face of both family demands and new communication and interactive technologies it is important to understand the pressures and reasoning of parents in their decisions about their child’s time use during the day. In this study the participants largely considered “screen time” and recreational, and this type of recreation is, in some cases, replacing outdoor and face-to-face play