Intensive parenting – Perspectives on Parental Time and Mediation of Technology Use

This thesis research explores how ideals about contemporary parenting shape parental time perceptions and the parental mediation of technology use. Previous literature demonstrates the changes of parenting that primarily concern the intensification, especially the extension and social inflation of the parental role. This parenting cultural script – namely, intensive parenting – provides the theoretical framework for this research. This study proposes that the patterns of parental time – especially the diverse approaches to quality time – and parental mediation of technology usage reflect contemporary parenting ideals. The inquiry intends to uncover the gender and social class differences in these parenting practices. Moreover, it aims to integrate the teenager’s voice into the debate about parental time and compare the parents‘ and children’s perspectives on their time together. The research utilizes a mixed-methods research approach. The quantitative part is based on data from a representative Hungarian quantitative survey – conducted in 2017 – including parent-child dyads. Additionally, the qualitative sample consists of 24 semi-structured interviews with parents of 12–16-year-old teenagers in Hungary in 2019. The study employs an explanatory sequential research design, where quantitative data dominate the analysis and the qualitative part provides more nuanced explanations. First, multivariate analyses were conducted using binary logistic regression models to analyse how diverse aspects of quality time and parental mediation relate to the subjective quality of parenting. The qualitative part of this study draws on thematic analysis following the definition of Braun and Clark (2006). The main findings of the thesis research can be summarized as follows: • The intensive parenting ideal shapes parental time in the way that spontaneous, focused time is highly appreciated among Hungarian parents and teenage children as well, while cultivating children’s talent does not comprise part of spending quality time with ...