Children's Age and Gender Differences in Internet Parenting Styles

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine whether the Internet family style changes according to age and gender. The study was based on a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. The participants of the study were randomly sampled from secondary and high school students in Sakarya - Turkey. A total of 1839 children participated in this study. As a result of the research it was seen that parental control and parental warmth were high in both females and males in the 10-11 age group. This shows that families maintained high levels of control and warmth with regard to the Internet at younger ages, however control and warmth continues to decrease for both genders in later ages. Considering gender, in males, parental control and parental warmth with regard to the Internet was seen to decline substantially at the age of 12. In females, parental control and warmth for the use of Internet decline substantially at the age of 14. Moreover, when compared to males, this decline occurs two years later.