Exploring Types of Parent–Child Relationship and Internet Use across Europe

This article explores internet-related parent-child relationships across twenty-five European countries. Parent-child dyads are analysed in terms of parental mediation, digital competence, and communicative proximity, in order to answer the following research questions: Which types of parent-child relationship with respect to internet use can be found? How do they coincide with developmental, social, and cultural patterns? And how are they distributed across European Union countries? Using data from the EU Kids Online survey, four types of parent-child relationship were identified. The types are shaped by several factors on the level of child, family, and country, with the child's age and internet use being the most important predictors. Based on the prevalence of these family types, six country clusters were identified, which represent technical, social, and cultural contexts shaping the type of internet-related parent-child relationship.

Jaar van publicatie:2012

Trefwoorden:young people, internet, parent-child relationship, Europe, cross-national analysis, EU, cluster analysis, multivariate analysis