Parents' Screen Time Linked to Children's Behavior Problems

John D. Cowden, MD, MPH reviewing McDaniel BT and Radesky JS. Pediatr Res 2018 Jun 13

Interruptions in parent–child interactions due to parents' technology device use predicted worse child behavior and vice versa.

Electronic device use by parents that interferes with parent–child communication or activities has been associated with childhood behavior in cross-sectional studies, but longitudinal studies exploring how they relate are lacking.

Researchers analyzed survey data collected at four time points over 6 months from 172 couples (337 individuals) having at least one child aged 1 to 5 years. Ninety-one percent of parents were white and 72% had at least a bachelor's degree. Surveys included parents' self-reported measures of: 1) frequency of technology device use interrupting parent–child interactions; 2) externalizing and internalizing child behaviors, and; 3) parent stress. Responses were tested for associations between the three variables.

As hypothesized by the researchers, the relationship between parent device use interruptions and child behavior was bidirectional and was mediated by parent stress. More device use interruptions predicted child externalizing behavior, more child externalizing behavior predicted parent stress, and more parent stress predicted more device interruptions. There was more-limited evidence of the same relationships for child internalizing behavior.

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Benjamin Hidalgo-Matlock
Skin Care Physicians of Costa Rica

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