Meta-analysis of associations between digital parenting and children's digital wellbeing

Abstract

The present study is contextualized in the rapidly digitalizing world where many parents struggle to maximize their children's online learning opportunities and protect the latter against online risks. It employed three-level meta-analysis to synthesize findings from 88 primary studies (2008–2024) on associations between digital parenting (positive mediation, negative mediation, co-use, general digital parenting) and children's digital wellbeing (positive, negative, digital use). The study is original in the comprehensive examination of associations between the different types of digital parenting and children's digital wellbeing. There are three sets of results. First, digital parenting was negatively associated with children's negative digital wellbeing. The magnitude of association between digital parenting and children's negative digital wellbeing was the largest for co-use, followed by positive and negative mediation. Second, digital parenting was not associated overall with children's positive digital wellbeing or digital use. However, the association between digital parenting and children's positive digital wellbeing was stronger for positive mediation than negative mediation or co-use. Types of digital parenting did not moderate the association between digital parenting and children's digital use. Third, there were some significant moderator effects for children's sex, geographical regions, data sources for digital parenting and children's digital wellbeing, and cross-sectional/longitudinal research designs. The study advances theory by providing evidence that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to digital parenting for comprehensively enhancing children's digital wellbeing. It also emphasizes the need for researchers to differentiate among different types of children's digital wellbeing that are influenced by digital parenting.