Building vs. Banning: Development, preliminary validation and evaluation of a parental mediation questionnaire for schoolchildren’s digital behavior

Introduction. The rapid evolution of mobile technologies necessitates adaptive parenting strategies to address children’s changing digital environments, underscoring the need for robust tools to study parental mediation. This article presents the development and validation of a questionnaire assessing parental mediation of schoolchildren’s digital behavior, integrating two theoretical approaches: patterns of parental behavior and parent-child relationship dynamics in digital mediation contexts. Materials and Methods. The preliminary questionnaire comprised 30 items evaluating five parental mediation strategies and their psychological comfort of implementation. Validity and reliability were assessed using: L- and Q-data on children’s gadget use; Soldatova et al.’s Technology Attitudes Questionnaire; Stepanov’s Parental Behavior Strategies Questionnaire, and statistical analyses (exploratory/confirmatory factor analyses, Cronbach’s α, socio-demographic comparisons, correlation analyses). The questionnaire was evaluated on a sample of 755 parents of schoolchildren (mean age = 40.99 years; 96.3 % women; range: 25–63 years). Results. The final 28-item questionnaire measures six key parental mediation strategies. Reliability was satisfactory (0.728 ≤ α ≤ 0.888). Confirmatory factor analysis supported construct validity (χ² = 1008.9; df = 313; CFI = 0.936; TLI = 0.923; SRMR = 0.055; RMSEA = 0.054). Criterion validity was demonstrated via associations with children’s gadget use, parenting strategies, and parental technology attitudes. The tool meets standard reliability/validity criteria. Conclusion. This validated questionnaire is suitable for parental counselling on digital socialization and designing digital competence programs.