Development of the Digital Parental Mediation Scale - Survey Data (2020)

The goal of this study was to develop and validate a measure of parents’ attitudes about the mediation of digital technology. An internet-based survey was administered to 554 parents of children and adolescents in the US. Exploratory bifactor analysis revealed one general factor and four digital-specific factors: discursive mediation, restrictive mediation and monitoring, participatory mediation, and mediation by modeling. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a bifactor model of the Digital Parental Mediation Scale (DPMS); the general factor explained shared variance related to parenting style and skills in general, while the mediation factor represented digital-specific attitudes. Mediation factors were predicted differentially by perceived parenting efficacy and influence, parental worry about technology, child age, and parent and child technology use patterns.