Gender Differences in Digital Media Associations with Family Formation Attitudes: Evidence from American Youth

How does platform-specific digital media use relate to adolescents' developing parenthood attitudes? Using nationally representative data from American high school seniors (N=4,740, 2018-2020), we examine associations between social media use, gaming, and parenthood desires, disaggregating platforms by social function and analyzing patterns separately by gender. Social media demonstrates a clear dose-response pattern among young men: heavy users (5+ hours) show an 11.8 percentage point higher probability of wanting children compared to non-users (p < 0.01). Among young women, social media shows minimal associations despite higher average usage. Gaming reveals an unexpected threshold pattern among young women: even light gaming (< 1 hour) associates with a 6.4 percentage point lower probability of wanting children (p < 0.05), with effects plateauing rather than intensifying at higher usage levels. Gaming shows no associations among young men. Passive screen time shows null associations for both genders, establishing platform specificity. These gender-differentiated patterns suggest that identical digital platforms associate with parenthood attitudes through different pathways depending on pre-existing gender schemas. Rather than uniform "screen time effects," digital media's sociological significance lies in how platform-specific content interacts with gendered frameworks about achievement, relationships, and family roles.