Does adult-child co-use during digital media use improve children's learning aged 0-6 years? A systematic review with meta-analysis

Young children spend a significant and increasing amount of time using digital media. Thus, a clear understanding of how best to support children’s learning from digital media is important. A specific recommendation by some professional bodies is that parental co-use should be applied to scaffold children’s learning from digital media. The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the association between adult-child co-use on 0–6-year-old children’s learning from digital media. The analysis was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We identified 17 studies investigating typically developing 0–6-year-old children's learning outcomes from digital media use with an adult for inclusion in this meta-analysis. We extracted 100 effect sizes (Ntotal = 1,288) from studies published between 1977 and 2022. Our meta-analysis found a small positive association of adult-child co-use on children’s learning from digital media (g = 0.198, 95% CIs: 0.059 – 0.337, p = 0.009); none of our moderator analyses were significant. While the evidence suggests a positive role of adult-child co-use, support for this conclusion was limited by small sample sizes and a lack of variety in study design. These issues limited the statistical power of our moderator analyses. The effect is, however, clearly significant and suggests that a real effect exists in the practice of co-use, but future research systematically exploring the mechanisms by which adult-child co-use supports children’s learning is warranted.