Korean Children’s YouTube Use and Social Skills: A Linkage Analysis with Negative Interactions in Favorite YouTube Content

Given the popularity of YouTube viewing among young children, we studied the relations between young children’s YouTube viewing time and exposure to negative interactions within reported favorite YouTube content on their self-regulation, anxiety, and social skills. Through analysis of data collected from 341 South Korean parents (child ages 4–6), we found that child YouTube viewing time was associated with poorer child self-regulation. We also found that the number of negative interactions within children’s favorite YouTube content and YouTube viewing time had significant and positive relations with children’s anxiety. Children’s anxiety was negatively correlated with social skills, but there was a positive correlation between self-regulation and social skills. Additionally, children’s YouTube viewing time was not directly associated with social skills, but negative interactions on YouTube was negatively correlated with social skills. Children’s YouTube viewing time was related to social skills through self-regulation and anxiety, and exposure to negative interactions on YouTube was associated with social skills through anxiety. This study is significant because it examines how social skills, which are essential for children’s development, relate with children’s YouTube use and the nature of YouTube content.