The effects of children’s Internet use: A Chinese longitudinal study

 Lin Ye, Shanghai Jiaotong University (China)

 Xiaolin Xia, Tianjin University (China)

 Peiye Jiang, Nanjing University (China)

 Ting Jiang, University of California (United States)

 Yangyang Liu, Tianjin University (China)

https://doi.org/10.3916/C68-2021-08

Keywords

Socioeconomic status, Internet, academic achievement, children, math, language

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the mediating effects of children’s Internet use on the relationship between family socioeconomic status and their academic achievement, and whether the mediating effects vary across different academic subjects. We used the data from the China Family Panel Studies on the socioeconomic status of children's families, children’s Internet use, and their academic performance. In the 2014 sample, there were 2,686 participants (females=1,272). In 2016, there were 2,330 participants (females=1,069), and in 2018, there were 2,485 participants (females=1,151). The socioeconomic status and the Internet use were measured by a questionnaire. Standardized tests measured the academic performance. Our findings showed that family socioeconomic status was positively related to math performance, but not significantly related to Chinese performance. The results also indicated that Internet use did not significantly mediate the relationship between family socioeconomic status in 2014 and math performance in 2016, while the frequency of Internet use to study in 2016 partly mediated the relationship between family socioeconomic status in 2016 and math performance in 2018. Our findings suggest that Internet use can only mediate the relationship between family socioeconomic status and math performance and the mediating effects become stronger over time.

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Fundref

This study was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China(15BSH111), Open Project Program of Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science of Ministry of Education, Southeast University (No. CDLS-2019-05), Jiangsu Science, Technology Support Project (BE2018699) and Innovation Fund Project, Tianjin University and Major social science projects of Tianjin Municipal Education Commission (2020JWZD47).

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Technical information

Received: 15-12-2020

Revised: 24-01-2021

Accepted: 15-02-2021

OnlineFirst: 15-04-2021

Publication date: 01-07-2021

Article revision time: 40 days | Average time revision issue 68: 37 days

Article acceptance time: 62 days | Average time of acceptance issue 68: 78 days

Preprint editing time: 153 days | Average editing time preprint issue 68: 169 days

Article editing time: 198 days | Average editing time issue 68: 214 days

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