Parental Monitoring of Children’s Television Viewing in a Sample of Peruvian Caregivers

Abstract

Parental monitoring of children’s television viewing is an important family practice that helps children understand the messages they find on advertisements and program content. Research points at different dimensions of monitoring, including parental coviewing, rules about when and how much time children can watch television, and active parental mediation. The study describes different dimensions of parental monitoring in a sample of 303 caregivers of primary school children living in Lima. Main findings reveal that about a third of the sample engaged in parental monitoring never, rarely or sometimes, the education level of the caregiver was positively associated with limiting the time children can watch television, and that child’s age was negatively associated with the frequency of active mediation and limits on the content children may watch on TV. Further research is needed in order to understand the practice of parental monitoring across children’s age groups in the context of Peru.