Abstract
From a health perspective, both decreasing screen time and increasing physical activity are important (Danielsen et al., 2011). Although they are independent behaviors (Taveras et al., 2007), it is likely that they compete for scheduling during a child's discretionary leisure time. As parents play a role in both (Smith et al., 2010), one wonders whether the confidence of parents to keep their children active would be associated with less screen time for children. This study examined how parents' efficacy to manage their child's activity relates to screen time, with child's age as a moderator. Parents (N=24) of children aged 2-18 completed an online survey twice (1 week apart). Screen time was assessed by parents' reports of television, computer and video game use. To assess parental efficacy, parents reported their confidence to manage their child's activity (Kraft et al., 2012). In predicting screen time at time 2, previous screen time (time 1) and age were entered on step 1, parental efficacy (time 1) on step 2 and an age by efficacy interaction on step 3. The interaction was significant (R2change=.14, p=.04). Inspection of the simple slopes revealed that parents of older children who were more vs. less efficacious in keeping their children active reported their children had less screen time (p=.02). This provides preliminary evidence that parents' confidence in keeping their children active may be associated with lesser screen time, especially when children are older.
