Empowering Parents in the Digital Age: Mitigating Social Media’s Impact on Youth Development

Last registered on October 19, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Empowering Parents in the Digital Age: Mitigating Social Media’s Impact on Youth Development
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014593
Initial registration date
October 17, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 19, 2024, 9:46 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Margaux Suteau
Affiliation
London School of Economics
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Sonkurt Sen
PI Affiliation
University of Bonn
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Greta Morando
PI Affiliation
University of Sheffield
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-10-21
End date
2024-11-21
Keywords
Behavior, Education, Health
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
As social media (SM) usage continues to surge among youth, concerns about its impact on their development and well-being are growing. This research investigates the crucial role parents play in shaping their children's SM experiences. Leveraging new data sources, we aim to provide a rich account of parents' beliefs about SM's effects, their strategies for guiding their children's usage, and how parental mediating practices are associated with family characteristics and child outcomes. Moreover, this project will provide novel evidence on how to foster better parenting practices to promote young people's emotional health and strengthen parent-child bonds in the digital age. Our findings will reveal inequalities stemming from varied parental approaches and inform policies to safeguard the next generation from SM's potential risks while harnessing its benefits. As regulation proves challenging, empowering parents emerges as a vital step towards ensuring SM positively impacts youth development.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Morando, Greta , Sonkurt Sen and Margaux Suteau. 2024. "Empowering Parents in the Digital Age: Mitigating Social Media’s Impact on Youth Development ." AEA RCT Registry. October 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14593-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The use of resources aimed at helping parents navigate the challenges and opportunities of social media (SM) for their children has not been matched by scientifically-based evidence. Therefore, our research aims to understand parental needs regarding social media and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions in fostering best parenting practices in the digital age.

We will employ an information treatment composed information on SM threats, especially on cyberbullying, mental health, addiction, academic distraction. Half of the participants will receive these informations, while the other half will receive no information.
Intervention (Hidden)
Project Motivation

The use of resources aimed at helping parents navigate the challenges and opportunities of social media (SM) for their children has not been matched by scientifically-based evidence on two critical aspects:

- Parents' actual needs
- The efficacy of available interventions

Therefore, our research agenda comprises two interconnected projects: first, a project to understand parental needs regarding social media, and second, to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. This pre-analysis plan relates to the first project.

Hypotheses

We hypothesize that parents may not be adopting best practices due to:

- Misperceptions or biased beliefs about SM threats and potential
- Pluralistic ignorance (feeling isolated in their concerns)
- Constraints in implementation despite awareness

Methodology

We will employ an information intervention composed of information on SM threats, especially on cyberbullying, mental health, addiction, academic distraction and harmful content online, to test the hypothesis. Half of the participants will receive this information, while the other half will receive no information.
Intervention Start Date
2024-10-21
Intervention End Date
2024-11-21

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We will run a survey experiment giving respondents information about social media and children use (defined below), and then assess the effectiveness of the intervention using several outcomes. This will include:

- Real-stakes measures, such as assessing take up of SM regulation tools and information for further coaching:
- Willingness to sign a petition to regulate SM for children, and what types of policy the petition should focus on.
- Willingness to donate to a charity fighting for digital safety for kids.
- Willingness to sign for our second part of the project, and hence, to be contacted by phone.

- Belief questions:
- Understanding their belief about the effect of policies to prevent the negative effect of SM, especially at school.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
To answer our questions, we will collect different information. First, our survey will collect outcomes to be used in correlational analysis.

- Parents and children use of SM
- Parenting styles and practices
- Parenting styles and practices related to SM mediation.
- Parents’ knowledge and belief about SM
- Children's wellbeing indicators
- Parents’ wellbeing indicators

Our hypothesis is that the primary outcomes vary by individual and households’ characteristics. Important secondary outcomes for control variables and to run important heterogeneity include:

- Gender of the responding parents and children
- Age of the parents and children
- Parents marital status
- Residency
- Parents education and occupation
- Children academic level achievement
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The survey will be composed of four blocks.

First, a Parent Block, composed of questions related to parents' own use of social media, their parenting practices, parenting related to social media and parenting practices more broadly. Second a Children Block, relates both to children SM use and children well-being. Third, the respondents will receive an information treatment in the Information Block. We randomize our respondents to receive information treatment on social media and children and parenting. Finally, following the information treatment, our respondents are asked to answer different questions, our outcomes variables.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The randomization will be performed by Qualtrics, and 50% of the sample will receive the intervention.
Randomization Unit
The randomization is at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The planned sample size is 1700 individuals.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The planned sample size is 1700 individuals. We estimate the number of valid responses, based our planned attrition and attention checks, to be 1600.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Our two treatment and control group is estimated to contain about 800 parents.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
LSE Research Ethics Policy and Procedure
IRB Approval Date
2024-10-17
IRB Approval Number
443355
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials