Study of an Online Program to Help Parents Talk With Their Tween Children About Health, Gender, Body-Image, and Relationships

NCT06408818 | Completed Results

• 2 other identifiers: TweenHealthStudy-R21-23-006-015R21HD108440-02
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 390
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to learn if Media Aware Parent - Tween, an online program for parents of children ages 9-12, helps parents have effective conversations with their child about health and media.

Conditions

Parenting; Parent-Child Relations; Communication

Keywords

Preadolescent Health; Media Literacy; Parent-Child Communication; Gender Stereotypes; Body-Image; Puberty; Sexual Health; Relationship Health

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (13)

• Change From Pretest in Child Report of Frequency of Parent-child Communication

  Child will respond to questions about the frequency with which their parent has talked with them about 12 topics related to prepubescent health on a Likert-type scale \[1 = Never; 2 = A little; 3 = A lot\]. Reponses on items are averaged, and higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Parent Report of Frequency of Parent-child Communication

  Parent will respond to questions about the frequency with which they have talked with their child about 12 topics related to prepubescent health on a Likert-type scale \[1 = Never; 2 = A little; 3 = A lot\]. Reponses on items are averaged, and higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Child Report of General Parent-child Communication Quality

  Child will indicate the extent to which they agree with nine statements about communication with their parent on a Likert-type scale \[1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Agree, 4 = Strongly agree\]. Reponses on items are averaged, and higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Parent Report of General Parent-child Communication Quality

  Parent will indicate the extent to which they agree with nine statements about communication with their child on a Likert-type scale \[1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Agree, 4 = Strongly agree\]. Reponses on items are averaged, and higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Child Report of Active Parental Media Mediation

  Child's perception of parent's use of active media mediation will be assessed using two items (e.g., "How often does your parent tell you what they see in media is different than real life?"). Participants will rate items on a 5-point Likert scale \[1 = never; 2 = almost never; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; 5 = very often\]. Reponses on items are averaged, and higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Parent Report of Active Parental Media Mediation

  Parents' use of active media mediation will be assessed using two items (e.g., "How often do you tell your child what they see in media is different than real life?"). Participants will rate items on a 5-point Likert scale \[1 = never; 2 = almost never; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; 5 = very often\]. Reponses on items are averaged, and higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Child Report of Parental Restrictive Media Mediation

  Child's perception of parent's use of restrictive media mediation will be assessed using one item (e.g., "How often does your parent limit the amount of your screen time (watching shows, going online, playing video games, or using social media)?"). Participants will rate items on a 5-point Likert scale \[1 = never; 2 = almost never; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; 5 = very often\]. Higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Parent Report of Parental Restrictive Media Mediation

  Parent's use of restrictive media mediation will be assessed using one item (e.g., "How often do you limit the amount of your child's screen time (watching shows, going online, playing video games, or using social media)?"). Participants will rate items on a 5-point Likert scale \[1 = never; 2 = almost never; 3 = sometimes; 4 = often; 5 = very often\]. Higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Child Report of Awareness of Family Media Rules

  Child will indicate on one item whether their family has rules about media use. Response options are "yes (1)," "no (0)," and "unsure (2)". Yes (1) indicates a more favorable outcome.

  Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Parent Report of Awareness of Family Media Rules

  Parent will indicate on one item whether their family has rules about media use. Response options are "yes (1)," "no (0)," and "unsure (2)". Yes (1) indicates a more favorable outcome.

  Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Child Report of Acceptance of Gender Stereotypical Roles

  Child will respond to the 7 items to indicate their agreement with statements about gender using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = "disagree a lot" to 5 = "agree a lot"). Reponses on items are averaged, and higher scores indicate a less favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Child Report of Attitudes Toward Puberty

  Child will respond to one item (i.e., "I like the fact that I am becoming a woman/man") on a 4-point scale from 1 = disagree a lot to 4 = Agree a lot to assess participants' attitudes towards puberty. Higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

• Change From Pretest in Child Report of Body-esteem

  Child will respond to four statements about how they feel about their body (e.g., I'm proud of my body) on a 5-point scale \[1 = Never; 2 = Seldom; 3 = Sometimes; 4 = Often; 5 =Always\]. Reponses on items are averaged, and higher scores indicate a more favorable outcome.

  Pretest (at baseline) and Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

Study Arms (2)

Intervention Program: Media Aware Parent -Tween

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will have access to an intervention between pre-test and post-test assessments. The intervention, Media Aware Parent -Tween, is an online program for parents of tweens ages 9-12 designed to help parents have effective conversations with their child about body image, sexual development, gender stereotypes, romantic relationships, and media.

Behavioral: Media Aware Parent - Tween

Active Control Resource

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Parents will have access to medically-accurate information about topics such as body image, sexual development, gender stereotypes, and romantic relationships.

Behavioral: Active Control Resource

Interventions

Media Aware Parent - Tween BEHAVIORAL

Media Aware Parent - Tween, is an online program for parents of tweens ages 9-12 designed to help parents have effective conversations with their child about body image, sexual development, gender stereotypes, romantic relationships, and media.

Intervention Program: Media Aware Parent -Tween

Active Control Resource BEHAVIORAL

Parents will have access to medically-accurate information about topics such as body image, sexual development, gender stereotypes, and romantic relationships.

Active Control Resource

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 9 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• The adult must be the legal guardian of a child ages 9 to 12 years old.
• The parent must be able and willing to receive email and text communication as part of the study.
• The parent-child pair must have access to a smartphone with internet connection as the resource review will be completed online in a format that is best viewed on a smartphone.
• The parent-child pair must be fluent in English as the study materials are written in English.
• The parent must indicate that they will give the child participant privacy to complete the questionnaires.
• Both the adult and child must agree to participate.

You may not qualify if:

• Only one parent-child pair per family may participate in the study. If the parent has more than one child aged 9 to 12 that is willing to participate, the parent will be prompted to select the child participant based on the following: if the parent's last name begins with a letter from A to M, select the youngest eligible child willing to participate or if the parent's last name begins with a letter from N to Z, select the oldest eligible child willing to participate.
• In an effort to ensure diversity in parent gender and race/ethnicity, not all eligible pairs who are interested in participating will be enrolled in the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Innovation Research & Training: lead
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

innovation Research and Training

Durham, North Carolina, 27713, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Communication

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Dr. Tracy Scull
• Organization: innovation Research and Training

tscull@irtinc.us

9194937700

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 7, 2024
• First Posted: May 10, 2024
• Study Start: May 6, 2024
• Primary Completion: March 24, 2025
• Study Completion: March 24, 2025
• Last Updated: July 10, 2025
• Results First Posted: July 10, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-06

Locations

US (1)