Internet parenting styles and the impact on Internet use of primary school children

1 School Children 2 3 4 5 6 7 Abstract 8 Next to available data about actual Internet use of young children at home, most research especially 9 focuses on the threats and opportunities about active Internet usage. Limited empirical research 10 focuses on the role and impact of parents in this context. In the present study, Internet parenting 11 styles are defined and operationalized to study the impact on actual Internet usage of children at 12 home. Two dimensions are distinguished in Internet parenting styles: parental control and parental 13 warmth. Based on a survey, involving 533 parents from children in primary schools, this Internet 14 usage was studied from the perspective of Internet parenting styles. Results point at high Internet 15 access at home. As to the parenting styles, we observe a dominance of the authoritative parenting 16 style (59.4%). The styles differ when controlling for parent gender, educational background and age. 17 Parenting styles are also linked to level of parent Internet usage, Internet attitude and Internet 18 experience. Parenting styles also significantly affect child Internet usage. The highest child usage 19 level is perceived when parents adopt a permissive parenting style; the lowest level is observed when 20 parents adopt an authoritarian Internet parenting style. The variables Internet parenting style, 21 parent Internet behavior, and parent educational background significantly predict Internet usage of 22 children at home (R 2 = .44). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and directions for 23 future research. 24 Keywords: parenting styles, Internet, home usage, safe Internet usage 25 Running head: Internet parenting styles and Internet usage at home 26