Association between Parental Internet Use and Behavioral Problems in Elementary Students

Abstract

Objective : To examine the internet use behavior in elementary students’ parents and
an association between parental internet use, time spend with children and behavioral
problems in elementary school students
Methodology : This is a cross-sectional correlation study on parents of elementary
students from 4 schools in Bangkok. The survey was conducted from April-August 2015
using the Internet Usage Questionnaire for parents and the Strengths and Difficulties
Questionnaire (SDQ) for children.
Results : There were 356 parents which 262 were female (73.6) and all of them had
the average age of 39.8 years old (SD = 0.44). The average time that parents spent on
internet were 1:33 hours minutes/day (SD = 0.04) with the maximum parental internet
use were 10.17 hours minutes/day. Moreover, it was found that parents of students
with/risky to aggressive behavior, hyperactive/inattentive behavior and relationship with
peers groups significantly spent time on the internet more than those whose children
were in the normal group. On the other hand, parents of children with/risky to emotional
problem and hyperactive/inattentive behavior significantly spent time on offline games
less than parents of students in the normal group.
Conclusion : Parental internet use is positive and negative correlated with behavioral
problems in children. Furthermore, there is also a positive correlation between parental
internet use and media use in children. Further studies should explore on mechanisms
of these association such as contents of the media, time-spent together using media,
parenting style.