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Most studies on the uses and effects of media and communication by parents and children have focused on how parents influence their children. Socialization theory generally describes how children internalize the rules and norms from their parents, teachers, siblings, media, and others. Socialization is, however, a bidirectional process in which children socialize their parents as well. This “child-effect” is a perspective that has been largely ignored in the social science literature in general, and in media research, in particular. Given recent changes in the media landscape (such as the introduction of smartphones and tablets), we argue that this needs to be investigated now more than ever. In this paper, we aim (1) to give a brief theoretical overview of the “child-effect hypothesis” and (2) to discuss its challenges and opportunities for future research of the relationship between parents and children in media and communication research.
Bulck et al. (Sat,) studied this question.