Testing the reliability of scales on parental internet mediation

This short report explores the dimensionality and reliability of the five mediation scales of internet use in different languages applied in the cross-national EU Kids Online survey in 2010: (1) active mediation of internet use; (2) restrictive mediation; (3) active mediation of internet safety; (4) monitoring; and (5) technical mediation. More specifically, the original English version, the translated French, Spanish and German versions, as well as the version across languages and 25 countries, were examined by analysing the data of around 1,000 children and their parents per country. Both the scales based on the parents and children’s responses are compared. The results show that, overall, the internet mediation scales work quite well in all languages and across countries. Some modifications are suggested which could improve the reliability of the subscales.