16 research outputs found
How and Why Parents Guide the Media Use of Young Children
Abstract
Children use electronic screens at ever younger ages, but there is still little empirical research on howand why parents mediate this media use. In line with Vygotskyâs zone of proximal development, we explored whether childrenâs media skills and media activities, next to parentsâ attitudes about media for children, and several child and parent-family characteristics, predicted parental mediation practices. Furthermore, we investigated childrenâs use and ownership of electronic screens in the bedroomin relationship to the childâs media skills. Data from an online survey among 896 Dutch parents with young children (0â7 years) showed that childrenâs use and ownership of TV, game consoles, computers and touchscreens, primarily depended on their media skills and age, not on parentâs attitudes about media for children. Only touchscreens were used more often by children, when parents perceived media as helpful in providing moments of rest for the child. In line with former studies, parents consistently applied co-use, supervision, active mediation, restrictive mediation, and monitoring, depending on positive and negative attitudes about media. The childâs media skills andmedia activities, however, had stronger relationshipswith parental mediation styles, whereas age was not related. Canonical discriminant analysis, finally, captured how the five mediation strategies varied among infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and early childhood children, predominantly as a result of childrenâs media skills, and media activities, i.e., playing educational games and passive entertainment use
Transabdominal ultrasonographic evaluation of fetal well-being in the late-term mare and cow
In the equine practice, attempts have been made to examine the fetus in the second and third trimester of pregnancy but all of the available methods have limitations. Until now, transabdominal ultrasonography has been regarded as the most informative examination. This method allows us to measure fetal heart rate, fetal activity as well as the quality and quantity of the fetal fluids. A modified biophysical profile for horses was used by several researchers in the USA from the 1990s as a gold standard. However, it is not sensitive enough and, in the authorsâ experience, professionals can face difficulties during its application (e.g. for measuring aortic diameter and fetal breathing movements). In cows, this method was first used for this purpose by a Canadian research group in 2007. They reported that transabdominal ultrasound was promising but showed low sensitivity in this species. The present studies show that birth weight cannot be predicted from fetal aortic diameter measurement in cows as suggested by other researchers. Transabdominal ultrasound needs special equipment (2â3.5 MHz convex transducer) and basic ultrasonographic knowledge; however, we suggest that in most cases it can be performed with the dam placed in a stock and without shaving the examination area. The method provides useful information within 30â40 minutes, enabling the examiner to determine whether or not the fetus is alive and to recognise placentitis or twins. This technique also allows measuring the combined thickness of the uteroplacental unit, and the authorsâ ongoing study showed higher normal values in Lipizzaner mares compared to values in other breeds. In conclusion, with the help of advanced techniques, simple and low-cost methods should be developed for the evaluation of the pregnant dam and its fetus to assess fetal viability in the veterinary practice
Guiding Young Childrenâs Digital Media Use: SES-Differences in Mediation Concerns and Competence
Previous research about parentsâ mediation of their young childrenâs (digital) media use has predominantly focused on the different types, determinants, and effectiveness of parental mediation strategies. Although research on parentsâ perceived mediation concerns and competences is scarce, it is known that, compared to mothers and high-educated parents, fathers and low-educated parents experience greater insecurity (i.e., higher concern and lower competence) when applying media mediation. Based on Bourdieuâs theory of social capital it may be expected thatâin addition to educational levelâmarital status and family income predict parentsâ perceived mediation concerns and competences: Family demographics may predict parentsâ media proficiency and adoption of new media technologies and these media ecological factors may, in turn, affect perceived concerns and competences. To test this assumption, survey data were collected among 1029 parents of children between the ages of 1 to 9 years. We found that parentsâ basic media proficiency was lower in low income, low educated,
and single-parent families, whereas parentsâ advanced media proficiency was only lower in low educated and single-parent families. As expected, parentsâ ease of active co-use was positively associated with parentsâ basic proficiency, ease of restrictive mediation by basic and advanced proficiency, and ease of imposing technical restrictions by advanced media proficiency. Parentsâ perceived mediation concerns were, however, unrelated to parentsâ media proficiency. Also, as expected, low educated parents were less inclined to adopt new media technologies. Adoption of new media was negatively related to perceived mediation concerns, yet did not predict parentsâ perceived competence