Digital parenting attitude scale: validity and reliability study

 
Method 
The participants of the study were 355 volunteer parents, whose children aged between 6 and 18 
and living in Istanbul. The mean age of the participants was 40.9. In relation to children, 70% of 
the participants were mothers, 26.9 % were fathers and 3.1% were other relatives (stepmother or 
stepfather, or primary caregiver as grandparents). Additionally, 34 volunteers participated in test-
retest reliability analysis that was repeated in three weeks period. The mean age of 34 participants 
was 41.19. The items of the scale were written based on the relevant literature on attitudes toward 
technology, parenting approaches, and parental mediation. In the first version of the scale, there 
were 13 items and this first version of the scale was presented to the expert opinion of three 
academicians from guidance and psychological counseling, assessment and evaluation and 
computer technologies education areas and necessary corrections were made due to expert 
feedbacks. Besides, the corrected version was utilized to ten parents to assess the clarity of 
wording. The last version of the scale was composed of 13 items that had a Likert’s type scaling 
between 1 (= I don’t agree at all) and 5 (=I totally agree). The data for factor analysis and internal 
consistency analysis was collected from 355 parents, between December 2016 and January 2017. 
Besides, 34 volunteers participated in the data collection phase for test-retest reliability analysis, 
which was repeated within 3 weeks period in April 2017. The statistical analyses were conducted 
by SPSS 20 ve AMOS 24 software. 
Results 
To achieve the aim of the study, primarily, the explanatory factor analysis was conducted to reveal 
the factor structure of the scale. Firstly, before conducting the explanatory factor analysis, Kaiser-
Meyer-Oklin (KMO) and Barlett Sphericity tests were used to decide on the suitability of the scale 
for factor analysis. Accordingly, KMO and Barlett Sphericity coefficients revealed acceptable 
results (KMO= .762, Barlett x
2
=1121.035, sd=78, p<0.05). Secondly, explanatory factor analysis 
was done and 13
th
item was excluded from the scale due to gaining factor loads from two factors 
simultaneously. Following the exclusion, KMO and Barlett Sphericity tests were rerun (KMO= 
.764, Barlett x
2
=1015.601, sd=66, p<0.05) and the coefficients were in the acceptable 
range. Therefore, explanatory factor analysis was conducted for 12 items and the results of the 
analysis revealed a two-dimensional structure that explained the 46.109 % of the total variance. 

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Mehmet Akif Ersoy Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi 
ISSN:1302-8944 Yıl: 2018 
Sayı: 46 
Sayfa: 149-173 
172 
Accordingly, the two sub-dimensions were named as Approving Effective Use of Digital 
Media and Protecting Against Digital Media Risks respectively. The first factor included items 
1,2,5,6,10, and 12; whereas the second factor included items 3,4,7,8,9, and 11. Following that, the 
confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the fit of the two-dimensional model and the 
results demonstrated an acceptable fit of the model (χ2/sd= 3,305, GFI= .92, AGFI=.89, CFI=.87, 
RMSEA=.08 ve RMR=.05). Following the validity tests, the reliability of the scale was assessed by 
internal consistency, split-half, and test-retest reliability analysis. Internal consistency coefficients 
of the scale were between .724 and .776 and split-half reliability coefficients were between .631 and 
764. The test-retest analysis revealed reliability of the measure in time. Hence, according to the 
results, Digital Parenting Attitude Scale was concluded as a valid and reliable instrument for 
parents, whose children aged from 6 to 18.