Parental Strategies to Promote Mental Health in Digital Citizens of Grades 6-8

The research conducted in this study was done to discern the best parental strategies to promote mental health in digital citizens of grades 6-8. The world of technology is very dynamic, and often these days children are advancing much faster than their parents. The purpose of this research study was to keep parents informed and educated of the latest trends, tools, and dangers in the digital world today. To achieve this goal the researchers held four online workshops over the course of two months to provide parents the tools necessary to raise responsible digital citizens. The results of the study proved that the workshops provided parents the knowledge they needed to promote digital citizens in the middle school aged child. The majority of the results from the comparison of the pre and post assessment survey were statistically significant with 90 - 95% certainty depending on the question. In the future, the researchers believe the effectiveness of the development of digital citizenship among middle school students would be improved if their families were introduced to the topic earlier in their educational journey, such as elementary school. Another recommendation would be yearly workshops to continue growth and understanding of digital citizenship. In conclusion, the data collected from the post survey indicates that overall, parents/guardians became empowered and knowledgeable in digital citizenship and were able to better guide their middle school aged child to become responsible digital citizens.