Objective:

This study aimed to research the effects of parental mediation, digital skills, gender, and socioeconomic status on the Internet uses of children and adolescents between 9 and 17 years old.

Method:

The Kids Online survey (Pérez-Sánchez, 2019) was applied to a national representative sample of 1008 Costa Rican children and adolescents, 50.6% women and an average age of 12.75 (SD = 2.55). A stratified random sample was followed. Structural equation modeling and moderation, and mediation analysis were conducted.

Conclusions:

Results show that specific parental mediation types can contribute to promote or inhibit different Internet uses, resulting in active mediation as the main promoter and monitoring mediation as the main inhibitor, above restrictive mediation. Digital skills have a partial mediation effect in the association between types of mediation and Internet uses. This effect helps to counteract the limiting or restrictive effects of mediation on opportunities. Furthermore, a moderator effect of gender and socioeconomic status in the relationship between the type of mediation and Internet uses was found.