Parenting Across the Social Ecology Facilitated by Information and Communications Technology: Implications for Research and Educational Design

To inform parenting research and aid educators seeking to deliver programs that support effective parenting, this study explored types of information and communications technology (ICT) used to fulfill childrearing goals. Mothers’ (N = 1,804) reports of ICT activity frequency were examined from data collected from an online survey. Results suggest that mothers’ ICT use for parenting is less frequent than general use in adulthood. Mothers employ ICT to fulfill parenting goals within and across five domains of the parenting social ecology: (a) parent development, (b) parent-child relationships, (c) child development, (d), family development, and (e) culture and community. Several types of ICT activities may strengthen parenting in a single domain, and a single ICT activity may help fulfill multiple domains. Implications for research and for promoting and selecting ICT for effective parent learning and education design are discussed.