Parental Technoference and Child Problematic Media Use: Meta-Analysis
BackgroundParental technoference, the interruption of parent-child interactions by technology, has been associated with negative outcomes in children’s media use. However, the magnitude of this relationship and its moderating factors remain unclear. ObjectiveThis...
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JMIR Publications
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Online Access: | https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e57636 |
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| author | Jinghui Zhang Qing Zhang Bowen Xiao Yuxuan Cao Yu Chen Yan Li |
| author_facet | Jinghui Zhang Qing Zhang Bowen Xiao Yuxuan Cao Yu Chen Yan Li |
| author_sort | Jinghui Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
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BackgroundParental technoference, the interruption of parent-child interactions by technology, has been associated with negative outcomes in children’s media use. However, the magnitude of this relationship and its moderating factors remain unclear.
ObjectiveThis study aims to systematically examine the relationship between parental technoference and child problematic media use, as well as to identify moderating factors such as age, parental technoference group, study design, and type of problematic media use.
MethodsFollowing PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a comprehensive literature search was conducted up to August 2024 across multiple databases, including Web of Science, EBSCO, ProQuest, PubMed, PsycINFO, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, using predefined search strings. A total of 53 studies with a total of 60,555 participants (mean age of 13.84, SD 1.18 years) were included. Inclusion criteria comprised studies involving children under the age of 22 years, assessing the association between parental technoference and child problematic media use with valid measures, and reporting necessary statistical data. Exclusion criteria included studies focusing on other child outcomes, having sample sizes <30, or being case reports or review papers. The risk of bias was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed using R (version 4.2.1; R Foundation for Statistical Computing) with the meta and metafor packages to evaluate the association and conduct moderator analyses.
ResultsThe meta-analysis identified a significant positive association between parental technoference and child problematic media use (r=0.296, 95% CI 0.259-0.331). Moderator analyses revealed that both parental technoference group (P<.001) and study design (P=.008) significantly influenced this relationship. Specifically, the association was stronger when both parents engaged in technoference compared to when only 1 parent did, and in cross-sectional studies compared to longitudinal studies. Age, gender, publication status, and type of problematic media use did not significantly moderate the relationship (all P>.05).
ConclusionsThis meta-analysis provides robust evidence of the association between parental technoference and child problematic media use. The findings highlight the need for family-based interventions and underscore the importance of longitudinal research to understand the temporal dynamics of this relationship better.
Trial RegistrationPROSPERO CRD42023471997; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=471997 |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-19ae08b686054c0b8ff2dd88cd844ffb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1438-8871 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-19ae08b686054c0b8ff2dd88cd844ffb2025-01-22T21:31:22ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712025-01-0127e5763610.2196/57636Parental Technoference and Child Problematic Media Use: Meta-AnalysisJinghui Zhanghttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0926-3486Qing Zhanghttps://orcid.org/0009-0002-6199-0602Bowen Xiaohttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6766-714XYuxuan Caohttps://orcid.org/0009-0009-4807-2947Yu Chenhttps://orcid.org/0009-0000-9508-8233Yan Lihttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1330-3057 BackgroundParental technoference, the interruption of parent-child interactions by technology, has been associated with negative outcomes in children’s media use. However, the magnitude of this relationship and its moderating factors remain unclear. ObjectiveThis study aims to systematically examine the relationship between parental technoference and child problematic media use, as well as to identify moderating factors such as age, parental technoference group, study design, and type of problematic media use. MethodsFollowing PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a comprehensive literature search was conducted up to August 2024 across multiple databases, including Web of Science, EBSCO, ProQuest, PubMed, PsycINFO, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, using predefined search strings. A total of 53 studies with a total of 60,555 participants (mean age of 13.84, SD 1.18 years) were included. Inclusion criteria comprised studies involving children under the age of 22 years, assessing the association between parental technoference and child problematic media use with valid measures, and reporting necessary statistical data. Exclusion criteria included studies focusing on other child outcomes, having sample sizes <30, or being case reports or review papers. The risk of bias was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed using R (version 4.2.1; R Foundation for Statistical Computing) with the meta and metafor packages to evaluate the association and conduct moderator analyses. ResultsThe meta-analysis identified a significant positive association between parental technoference and child problematic media use (r=0.296, 95% CI 0.259-0.331). Moderator analyses revealed that both parental technoference group (P<.001) and study design (P=.008) significantly influenced this relationship. Specifically, the association was stronger when both parents engaged in technoference compared to when only 1 parent did, and in cross-sectional studies compared to longitudinal studies. Age, gender, publication status, and type of problematic media use did not significantly moderate the relationship (all P>.05). ConclusionsThis meta-analysis provides robust evidence of the association between parental technoference and child problematic media use. The findings highlight the need for family-based interventions and underscore the importance of longitudinal research to understand the temporal dynamics of this relationship better. Trial RegistrationPROSPERO CRD42023471997; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=471997https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e57636 |
| spellingShingle | Jinghui Zhang Qing Zhang Bowen Xiao Yuxuan Cao Yu Chen Yan Li Parental Technoference and Child Problematic Media Use: Meta-Analysis Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| title | Parental Technoference and Child Problematic Media Use: Meta-Analysis |
| title_full | Parental Technoference and Child Problematic Media Use: Meta-Analysis |
| title_fullStr | Parental Technoference and Child Problematic Media Use: Meta-Analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Parental Technoference and Child Problematic Media Use: Meta-Analysis |
| title_short | Parental Technoference and Child Problematic Media Use: Meta-Analysis |
| title_sort | parental technoference and child problematic media use meta analysis |
| url | https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e57636 |
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