Parental Media Literacy and Children's Epistemic Curiosity in Screen-Based Media Use: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

Research on children's media use has traditionally focused on risks and negative outcomes. However, screen-based media may also provide opportunities for learning and curiosity-driven exploration. As young children increasingly engage with digital media within family contexts, parental media literacy may represent an important competency associated with children's media experiences and developmental outcomes.

This study examined the associations between parental media literacy and children's epistemic curiosity during screen-based media use. Specifically, it investigated how 4 dimensions of parental media literacy-technological use, critical understanding, self-expression, and norm compliance-were associated with 2 dimensions of children's epistemic curiosity: interest-type and deprivation-type curiosity.

Between July 31, 2024, and August 21, 2024, we conducted an online cross-sectional survey of 1020 parents of children aged 7 to 9 years in South Korea, including 340 parents in each age group. Household income, parental media literacy, and children's epistemic curiosity were assessed using validated 5-point Likert scales. Separate structural equation models were estimated to examine the direct associations between parental media literacy and children's epistemic curiosity and the indirect associations between household income and children's epistemic curiosity through parental media literacy.

Technological use was positively associated with both interest-type (β=.32; P<.001) and deprivation-type (β=.18; P<.001) curiosity. Critical understanding, self-expression, and norm compliance were also positively associated with both interest-type (β=.20 to .26; P<.001 in all cases) and deprivation-type (β=.21 to .23; P<.001 in all cases) curiosity. Household income showed significant indirect associations with interest-type curiosity through all 4 dimensions of parental media literacy (β=.005 to .009; P<.05 in all cases), whereas indirect associations with deprivation-type curiosity were observed only through critical understanding (β=.007; P=.003), self-expression (β=.011; P<.001), and norm compliance (β=.004; P=.03).

The findings suggest that parental media literacy may extend beyond an individual competency and be associated with children's curiosity-driven engagement with digital media. By highlighting parental media literacy as a potentially modifiable factor, this study underscores the importance of supporting parents as active participants in children's digital learning environments.