Behavior change literacy: improving explanations of parental mediation behaviors in a digital age

Rohde, Paul (2024) Behavior change literacy: improving explanations of parental mediation behaviors in a digital age. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

Researchers have long studied parental behaviors that support their children in navigating the media and technology landscape. Yet, they still struggle to explain why skills and knowledge in this area do not consistently translate into actual behaviors. To address this issue, a new explanation for this specific set of behaviors, known under the umbrella term parental mediation behaviors, was explored. In this process, the dissertation made three contributions. First, it introduced and conceptualized Behavior Change Literacy (BCL) as an entirely new construct, defining it as an individual's ability to effectively initiate and sustain desired behavioral changes in themselves and others. BCL is a broad concept, applicable across various behaviors and contexts, and it varies among individuals. Second, a reliable and valid scale to measure BCL was developed and rigorously validated using cognitive interviews and statistical analysis. The cognitive interviews affirmed the three-component conceptualization of BCL: individuals had (a) different emotional, cognitive, and operational BCL levels related to (b) themselves, their children, and significant others for (c) habitual and non-habitual behaviors. Furthermore, they helped develop an empirically sound scale by resolving issues related to cognitive effort, behavior landscape breadth, consistent understanding of terms, consistent recall timeframes, and accurate response caption. The pilot survey affirmed the statistical validity of BCL’s proposed three-fold theoretical structure. Third, a comprehensive survey demonstrated BCL, parental mediation intentions, and digital skills as promising independent explanations for parental mediation behaviors. More granularly, it revealed that particularly operational, child-related, and habit-related BCL were promising subcomponents. The BCL scale can be leveraged to identify and address gaps in personal BCL by creating a record of successful behavior change (operational BCL), cultivating a strong sense of self-efficacy and a positive attitude towards behavior change (emotional BCL), and gaining declarative and procedural knowledge about behavior change theory and techniques (cognitive BCL).

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	© 2024 Paul Rohde
Uncontrolled Keywords:	digital behaviors, behavior change literacy, intention-behavior gap, parental mediation, internet use, smartphone use, and social media use
Library of Congress subject classification:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Sets:	Departments > Media and Communications
Supervisor:	Helsper, Ellen and Krpan, Dario
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/4837

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