Developing and Validating a Digital Literacy Scale for Young Children Aged 3–6: Associations with Problematic Media Use

This study developed and evaluated a parent-report digital literacy scale for children aged 3–6 years and examined its associations with problematic media use. Theoretical analysis, interviews with experts and parents, and content validity assessment yielded 24 items. Independent samples of 398 and 603 parents from two locations in eastern China were used for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, respectively. The results supported four dimensions: digital operation and exploration, digital understanding and transfer, digital expression and interaction, and digital rules and risk prevention. The scale showed satisfactory internal consistency and initial evidence of construct validity and measurement invariance across child sex, place of residence, and age groups. The total score and all four dimensions were negatively correlated with problematic media use. After adjustment for demographic characteristics and the other dimensions, the three nonoperational dimensions remained negatively associated with problematic media use, whereas the coefficient for digital operation and exploration was not significant. The scale provides an initial research tool for assessing parent-reported digital competencies in young children. The observed associations do not establish that improving digital literacy reduces problematic media use.