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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT06408818

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

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.

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Key information

Conditions

Parenting Behavior Communication Parent-Child Relations

Age range

9 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

innovation Research and Training

Durham, North Carolina, 27713, United States

About this study

Parent-child pairs (N=300 pairs) will be recruited to participate in a randomized controlled trial. Parent consent and parent permission and youth assent will be sought. Participant pairs will be randomized into one of two study arms: intervention and active control. All participants will complete a web-based pre-test questionnaire. Youth and parents will then receive access to their randomly assigned resource. Approximately four weeks after completing the pre-test questionnaire, all participants will complete a web-based post-test questionnaire.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • 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.

Exclusion criteria

  • 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.

Treatment and study plan

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.

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.

Primary outcomes

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

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

    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.

  2. Change From Pretest in Parent Report of Frequency of Parent-child Communication

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

    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.

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

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

    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.

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

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

    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.

  5. Change From Pretest in Child Report of Active Parental Media Mediation

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

    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.

  6. Change From Pretest in Parent Report of Active Parental Media Mediation

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

    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.

  7. Change From Pretest in Child Report of Parental Restrictive Media Mediation

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

    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.

  8. Change From Pretest in Parent Report of Parental Restrictive Media Mediation

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

    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.

  9. Change From Pretest in Child Report of Awareness of Family Media Rules

    Time frame: Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

    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.

  10. Change From Pretest in Parent Report of Awareness of Family Media Rules

    Time frame: Posttest (about four weeks after pretest questionnaire completion)

    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.

  11. Change From Pretest in Child Report of Acceptance of Gender Stereotypical Roles

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

    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.

  12. Change From Pretest in Child Report of Attitudes Toward Puberty

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

    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.

  13. Change From Pretest in Child Report of Body-esteem

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

    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.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Innovation Research & Training

Other

Collaborators

  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Registry information

Official study title

Online Parent Media Literacy Program to Promote Preadolescent Health

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
May 10, 2024
Registry last updated
Jul 10, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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