Investigating the relationship between Iranian parents’ demographic factors and their mediation of children’s digital gameplay at home

Previous studies have shown that demographic factors can influence parental mediation strategies during children’s digital gameplay. However, little is known about maternal and paternal mediation in Iranian families. This study examined the relationship between maternal and paternal mediation (restrictive, active, viewing, technical, and laissez-faire) and demographic profiles (gender, age, socioeconomic status (SES), and education level) during the digital gameplay of children aged 6–10 years. Understanding this relationship is key to developing age-appropriate, culturally sensitive strategies to guide children’s digital interactions. A sequential mixed-methods study involving 210 Iranian parents (167 mothers and 43 fathers) was conducted, including a survey and follow-up interviews with 10 parents (8 mothers and 2 fathers), to explore their role in mediating children’s digital gameplay. The quantitative results showed a strong positive relationship between mothers’ technical and active mediation and education level, and between fathers’ education, viewing, and restrictive mediation. However, a negative correlation was found between fathers’ education and laissez-faire mediation. Qualitative interviews revealed that both mothers and fathers tend to mediate children’s digital playtime towards more educational games, using primarily restrictive and active co-playing mediation strategies. Iranian parents, particularly fathers, may benefit from adopting more technical and active co-playing mediation to further support their children’s digital gameplay at home. Sociocultural norms, especially Islamic-Iranian norms, may influence parental mediation of children’s digital gameplay. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.