Putting infants' media exposure in context: The Ecology of Media Use (EMU) study

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Parents’ mental health predicts their young children’s media use. Yet, research often ignores the family context in which media are used, overlooking the influence of parents as gatekeepers of their children’s digital media exposure. To address the gap in understanding the causes and consequences of infant media exposure, the overall objective in this application is to characterize why and how parents use digital media with and around their infants, and to identify associations with parent mental health and child socio-emotional skills. The central hypothesis is that instrumental media use (i.e., parents’ reasons for using media) mediates associations between parent mental health and child socio-emotional skills. The rationale for this project is that isolation of factors contributing to the family media ecology is likely to advance scientific understanding of and interventions targeting early digital media use. The central hypothesis will be tested by pursuing three specific aims: 1) Describe how parents use digital media to meet multiple needs. 2) Determine the extent to which parent needs and child behavior predict real-time decisions about parent and child digital media use. 3) Determine the extent to which parent and child media use mediates associations between parent mental health and child socio-emotional skills across multiple timescales. The proposed study will examine real-time fluctuations in instrumental media use among a diverse group of 400 parents of children 1 to 3.99 years old, employing a multimethod approach to examine within- and between-person effects. Under Aim #1, parents’ instrumental media use will be measured across multiple timescales (annually, daily, moment-to-moment). Under Aim #2, ecological momentary assessment will be used to examine real-time parent emotions, child behavior, and media use. Under the third aim, cross-lagged analyses will test for bidirectional, temporal associations between parent mental health, parent and child media use, and child socio-emotional skills across the three waves. The proposed research is innovative because: 1) it applies an ecological lens to study infants’ socio-emotional development in the context of digital media; 2) it examines potential mediators of media effects; 3) it considers both positive and negative uses of media; 4) it uses a multi-method, comprehensive assessment of the family media ecology; 5) it captures data in real time; 6) it employs advanced longitudinal data analysis; and 7) it maximizes impact through interdisciplinary, synergistic science. The proposed research is significant because it will be the first systematic effort to examine the causes and consequences of parents’ instrumental media use with and around infants across multiple timescales. The findings will contribute to evidence-informed policies and interventions regarding parent and infant digital media use, and be used to tailor interventions to the specific needs of individual families. Ultimately, such policies and interventions would support parents’ healthy coping and infants’ socio-emotional development in the digital age.