The predictive relationships between children's digital game addiction tendencies and mothers' digital parenting awareness and digital literacy levels

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of digital technologies has notably expanded children's accessibility to a diverse range of digital tools day by day. Consequently, this evolution has significantly influenced the gaming landscape, propelling the surge in popularity of digital games among children. This change has also led to the need for changes in the roles of parents. The awareness level of parents regarding digital technologies, coupled with their role as models in regulating preschool children's exposure to digital games, is believed to wield significant influence. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the predictive relationships between preschool children's digital game addiction tendencies and their mothers' digital literacy and digital parenting awareness. For this purpose, mothers of 400 children attending preschool education in Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, were included in the study. To collect data for the study, mothers were asked to complete scales measuring their children's digital game addiction, determining their own digital parenting awareness, and assessing their digital literacy. The results show significant relationships between mothers' digital parenting awareness and children's digital game addiction tendencies and between mothers' digital literacy and digital parenting awareness. It was observed that gender, the time spent by the child and the mother with digital devices, and mothers' digital parenting awareness were significant predictors of children's digital game addiction tendencies. In addition, the study revealed that maternal age, educational attainment, the number of children, duration of engagement with digital tools, and proficiency in digital literacy serve as notable predictors across various sub-dimensions of mothers' digital parenting awareness.