Parenting style but not intensity of gadget use is associated with social-emotional development among preschool children in Surabaya

Introduction: Parenting behaviors and practices are widely accepted to play an important effect in the development of children. Parenting styles are defined as parents broad behavioral patterns that aim to manage and socialize their children, as well as parental attitudes and behaviors that establish an emotional backdrop or climate for parent-child relationships and child development. Inappropriate and excessive use of gadget can lead to addiction, interfere with physical, psychological, and emotional health, create social isolation, and harm development, particularly in children.

Objective: Explore the association between parenting style and intensity of gadget use on social-emotional development among preschool children in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Method: A cross-sectional approach was used in this study by involving 84 mothers. The sampling technique applied in this study was a simple random sampling in population of mothers in Genteng Health Center in Surabaya, Indonesia. This data was collected using an online questionnaire and analyzed statistically using bivariate test, specifically the chi-square test and logistic regression test using SPSS software.

Result: The results showed that the parenting style applied to preschool children was 65.4% of authoritative, 29.8% of authoritarian, and 4.8% of permissive. The intensity of gadget use was as high as 57.1% among children. Multivariate analysis proved that children with authoritative parenting style (OR = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.00-0.81) were significantly associated with social-emotional development of preschool children.

Conclusion: There was an association between parenting style and social-emotional development among preschool children. However, the intensity of gadget uses and social-emotional development among preschool was not showed a significant association.