Family media ecology and preschoolers’ screen time: insights from a network analysis of 13,596 Chinese families

Based on Family Media Ecology Theory, this study explores core nodes in family media ecology and their relation to preschoolers’ screen time. The results using network analysis of 13,596 Chinese families showed that the structure of the family media ecology network was stable, forming a relatively tight cluster, with ‘Parents’ screen time on weekends’, ‘Promote children’s critical thinking abilities’, ‘Parental knowledge about the content’ and ‘Parental knowledge about the time’ as central nodes. Moreover, ‘Autonomy support’ and ‘Helps parents participate in education’ emerged as the bridge nodes in the family media ecology. Finally, in the flow network, preschoolers’ screen time showed the strongest positive association with ‘parents’ screen time on weekdays for leisure’, and the strongest negative association with ‘Communication frequency’. The findings reveal the family media ecology’s network structure in relation to preschoolers’ screen time and suggest pathways for improving the family media environment.