Open Access Peer-reviewed Research Article

An Investigation of Parental Control Practices, Internet Use Behaviors of Elementary School Students, and Their Relationships with School Performance

Article Sidebar

Download PDF
Submitted   Jun 5, 2025
Published   Sep 23, 2025
Issue    Vol 5 No 2 (2025)
DOI   10.25082/AMLER.2025.02.012

Views

186

Downloads

39

Citations

PlumX Metrics

Main Article Content

Stefanos Armakolas corresponding author
Department of Educational Sciences and Social Work, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
Triantafyllia Takoumaki
Department of Educational Sciences and Social Work, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
Jan Krotký
Department of Education, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic

Abstract

It is widely known that children nowadays use the Internet for communication, entertainment, and educational purposes. Parents try to control their children's Internet use in various ways. Within this context, an investigation was carried out into the practices used by parents of primary school children to monitor Internet usage, as well as the impact of this usage on their academic performance. Through qualitative research and interviews with eight parents who were also educators, several conclusions were drawn regarding children's Internet use and its effect on school performance. The results of the present study showed that parents monitor their children's online activity by observing the websites they visit and try to limit the time they spend on the Internet. The responses indicated that the more time children spend online, the lower their academic performance tends to be. Moreover, the greater the parental control over Internet use, the higher the academic performance of primary school children.

Keywords
elementary school, parental control, school performance

Article Details

How to Cite
Armakolas, S., Takoumaki, T., & Krotký, J. (2025). An Investigation of Parental Control Practices, Internet Use Behaviors of Elementary School Students, and Their Relationships with School Performance. Advances in Mobile Learning Educational Research, 5(2), 1575-1583. https://doi.org/10.25082/AMLER.2025.02.012
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

References

  1. Andreou, E., & Svoli, H. (2012). The Association Between Internet User Characteristics and Dimensions of Internet Addiction Among Greek Adolescents. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 11(2), 139–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-012-9404-3
  2. Armakolas, S., Lora, C., & Waligóra, A. (2024). Increased mobile phone use in high school students as a social problem under the dimension of addiction. Advances in Mobile Learning Educational Research, 4(1), 911–919. https://doi.org/10.25082/amler.2024.01.002
  3. Beuermann, D. W., Cristia, J., Cueto, S., Malamud, O., & Cruz-Aguayo, Y. (2015). One Laptop per Child at Home: Short-Term Impacts from a Randomized Experiment in Peru. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(2), 53–80. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20130267
  4. Espinosa, L. M., Laffey, J. M., Whittaker, T., & Sheng, Y. (2006). Technology in the Home and the Achievement of Young Children: Findings From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Early Education & Development, 17(3), 421–441. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15566935eed1703_5
  5. Fairlie, R. W., & Robinson, J. (2013). Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Home Computers on Academic Achievement among Schoolchildren. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(3), 211–240. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.5.3.211
  6. Fan, X., & Chen, M. (2001). Parental Involvement and Students’ Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 13(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1009048817385
  7. Fiorini, M. (2010). The effect of home computer use on children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Economics of Education Review, 29(1), 55–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2009.06.006
  8. Ghoulam, K., Bouikhalene, B., Babori, A., & Falih, N. (2024). Exploring the impact of mobile devices in electronics e-learning: A case study evaluating the effectiveness of mobile learning applications in the field of electronics and sensors. Advances in Mobile Learning Educational Research, 4(2), 1058–1072. https://doi.org/10.25082/amler.2024.02.001
  9. Gubbi, J., Buyya, R., Marusic, S., & Palaniswami, M. (2013). Internet of Things (IoT): A vision, architectural elements, and future directions. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29(7), 1645–1660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2013.01.010
  10. Hasebrink, U., Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., & Olafsson, K. (2009). Comparing children’s online opportunities and risks across Europe: Cross-national comparisons for EU Kids Online. EU Kids Online, The London School of Economics and Political Science.
  11. Hill, N. E., & Tyson, D. F. (2009). Parental involvement in middle school: A meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement. Developmental Psychology, 45(3), 740–763. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015362
  12. Hollaway, D. J., Green, L. R., & Brady, D. J. (2013). 0-8: Young children's Internet use. In procedings of ANZCA conference 2013'Global Networks–Global divides': Bridging new and traditional communication challenges.
  13. Holloway, D., Green, L., & Livingstone, S. (2013). Zero to eight: Young children and their internet use.
  14. Jackson, L. A., von Eye, A., Biocca, F. A., Barbatsis, G., Zhao, Y., & Fitzgerald, H. E. (2006). Does home internet use influence the academic performance of low-income children? Developmental Psychology, 42(3), 429–435. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.3.429
  15. Jeynes, W. H. (2005). A Meta-Analysis of the Relation of Parental Involvement to Urban Elementary School Student Academic Achievement. Urban Education, 40(3), 237–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085905274540
  16. Jeynes, W. H. (2007). The Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Urban Secondary School Student Academic Achievement. Urban Education, 42(1), 82–110. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085906293818
  17. Junco, R. (2012). Too much face and not enough books: The relationship between multiple indices of Facebook use and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(1), 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.08.026
  18. Kim, Y. (2003). The impact of the Internet on children's daily lives: Physical, social and psychological well-being.
  19. Kirschner, P. A., & Karpinski, A. C. (2010). Facebook® and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6), 1237–1245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.024
  20. Kuhlemeier, H., & Hemker, B. (2007). The impact of computer use at home on students’ Internet skills. Computers & Education, 49(2), 460–480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2005.10.004
  21. Lee, S.-J., & Chae, Y.-G. (2012). Balancing Participation and Risks in Children’s Internet Use: The Role of Internet Literacy and Parental Mediation. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(5), 257–262. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2011.0552
  22. Lei, J., & Zhao, Y. (2007). Technology uses and student achievement: A longitudinal study. Computers & Education, 49(2), 284–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2005.06.013
  23. Livingstone, S., & Bober, M. (2004). UK children go online: Surveying the experiences of young people and their parents.
  24. Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., & Ólafsson, K. (2010). Risks and safety on the internet: the perspective of European children: key findings from the EU Kids Online survey of 9-16 year olds and their parents in 25 countries.
  25. Livingstone, S., Mascheroni, G., & Staksrud, E. (2017). European research on children’s internet use: Assessing the past and anticipating the future. New Media & Society, 20(3), 1103–1122. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816685930
  26. Malamud, O., & Pop-Eleches, C. (2011). Home Computer Use and the Development of Human Capital *. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(2), 987–1027. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjr008
  27. Manches, A., Duncan, P., Plowman, L., & Sabeti, S. (2014). Three questions about the Internet of things and children. TechTrends, 59(1), 76–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-014-0824-8
  28. Marinos, L., Acquisti, A., Anderson, P., Cadzow, S., Carr, J., Dickman, P., & Pasic, A. (2011). Cyber-bullying and online grooming: Hel** to protect against the risks. A scenario on data mining/profiling of data available on the Internet. Greece, Athens: European Network and Information Security (ENISA). Retrieved January, 30, 2014.
  29. Mascheroni, G., & Ólafsson, K. (2014). Net children go mobile: Risks and opportunities.
  30. Ofcom. (2019). Children and parents: Media use and attitudes report. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/making-sense-of-media
  31. Ofcom. (2021). Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2020/ 2021. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/making-sense-of-media
  32. Panagiotakopoulos, C., & Sarris, M. (2015). Designing and authoring a thesis using ICTs. Ion.
  33. Paraskevopoulou-Kollia, E. A. (2008). Methodology of qualitative research in social sciences and interviews. Open Education-The Journal for Open and Distance Education and Educational Technology, 4(1), 72-81.
  34. Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., & Robinson, J. C. (2008). Parent Involvement in Homework: A Research Synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 1039–1101. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308325185
  35. Pavlović, Z., & Kuzmanović, D. (2020). Active and restrictive parental mediation as the predictors of adolescents’ excessive Internet use. In Proceedings of the XXVI scientific conference Empirical studies in psychology (pp. 126-128).
  36. Pew Research Center. (2020). Parenting Children in the Age of Screens. https://policycommons.net
  37. Rachmayani, D. (2017). Internet for Children: a Review Study. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Early Childhood Education (ICECE 2016). https://doi.org/10.2991/icece-16.2017.24
  38. Saliki, L., Chronaki, D., & Kontogianni, S. (2012). Children and the Internet in Greece. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Communication and Mass Media. https://docplayer.gr
  39. Sholekah, S., Suad, S., Madjdi, A. H., & Pratama, H. (2022). Influences of gadgets on students’ learning achievement for elementary school. Advances in Mobile Learning Educational Research, 3(1), 541–547. https://doi.org/10.25082/amler.2023.01.002
  40. Smahel, D., Machackova, H., Mascheroni, G., Dedkova, L., Staksrud, E., Ólafsson, K., ... & Hasebrink, U. (2020). EU Kids Online 2020: Survey results from 19 countries.
  41. Soegoto, E. S., & Tjokroadiponto, S. (2018). Effect of Internet on Student’s Academic Performance and Social Life. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 407, 012176. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899x/407/1/012176
  42. The Internet of Toys. (2019). In G. Mascheroni & D. Holloway (Eds.), Studies in Childhood and Youth. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10898-4
  43. Thomas, G. M., & Lupton, D. (2018). Threats and thrills: pregnancy apps, risk and consumption. In Digitised Health, Medicine and Risk (pp. 33-47). Routledge.
  44. Vigdor, J. L., Ladd, H. F., & Martinez, E. (2014). Scaling the digital divide: Home computer technology and student achievement. Economic inquiry, 52(3), 1103-1119. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12089
  45. Warren, R. (2003). Parental Mediation of Preschool Children’s Television Viewing. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 47(3), 394–417. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem4703_5
  46. Winther, D. K., Livingstone, S., & Saeed, M. (2019). Growing up in a connected world (No. inorer1060).
  47. Wonsun Shin, & Jisu Huh. (2011). Parental mediation of teenagers’ video game playing: Antecedents and consequences. New Media & Society, 13(6), 945–962. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810388025