Influence of Digital Native Mothers' Digital Familiarity on Preschoolers' Media Regulation: The Role of Maternal Intentions to Provide Smart Media and Smart Media Mediation Profiles in Moderation Effects

Objectives: This study investigated the influence of digital native mothers’digital familiarity on preschoolers’ media regulation, focusing on the moderating role of maternal intentions to use smart media and their mediation profiles.Methods: Data were collected from 293 mothers of preschoolers in Gyeonggi Province. Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to classify mothers based on their media-related intentions and mediation strategies. The moderating effects of these identified profiles were analyzed using the PROCESS macro (Model 1).Results: Four distinct latent profiles emerged: convenience-oriented, balanced-regulatory, control-oriented, and participatory-educational. These profiles significantly moderated the relationship between maternal digital familiarity and preschoolers’ media regulation. Specifically, in a balanced-regulatory profile, higher digital familiarity is associated with lower media regulation children. Conversely, control-oriented and participatoryeducational profiles are linked to positive regulatory outcomes. This suggests that maternal digital familiarity does not automatically translate into beneficial outcomes and that its impact is contingent on the specific orien-tation and consistency of mediation.Conclusion: Thus, maternal intentions and mediation styles are more critical determinants of children's media regulation than are digital familiarity alone. Profiles characterized by intentional, interaction-focused, and educational mediation demonstrated the most positive effects. These results highlight the need for parent education and media literacy programs that prioritize high-quality mediation strategies to support healthy digital development in preschoolers.