Screen time associated with poorer executive function in preschoolers
Key takeaways:
- Less than one-quarter of children met the recommended 1 hour or less screen time per day.
- Children who spent less than 1 hour per day using screens had better inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility.
Greater amounts of screen time appeared to be associated with lower executive functioning among preschool-aged children, according to findings published in Academic Pediatrics.
According to previous research, screen time was associated with developmental delays and symptoms of anger in toddlers. Additionally, experts reported that toddlers who use tablets may be missing out on interactions with their parents.
WHO recommends a maximum of 1 hour of screen time per day for preschool-aged children, according to Caroline Fitzpatrick, PhD, associate professor in the department of preschool and elementary school education at Université de Sherbrooke in Québec, Canada, and colleagues.
“Accumulating too much time in front of [a] screen may steal time away from other activities that are essential for child cognitive development,” Fitzpatrick and colleagues wrote. “Preschooler executive function skills evolve rapidly and are key determinants of school readiness and later academic outcomes.”
The prospective study included a community-based convenience sample of 315 preschoolers (54% boys) who were aged 3.5 years in 2020. The researchers surveyed their parents about each child’s screen time and effortful control and followed up at age 4.5 years and 5.5 years. Participants’ effortful control was scored on a 7-point Likert scale with a lower score indicating lower levels of focus and inhibitory control. Additionally, the researchers evaluated the children’s executive function during a home visit at age 5.5 years.
On average, 3.5-year-olds spent an average of 3.5 hours per day using screens. Screen time decreased as they got older to 3.18 hours at age 4.5 years and 2.81 hours at age 5.5 years. Fitzpatrick and colleagues hypothesized that the decrease was due to children starting school and the end of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures.
The researchers categorized screen time into low (mean, 0.89 hours/day), medium (mean, 2.96 hours/day) and high (mean, 6.42 hours/day) groups. The largest proportion of participants were in the medium screen time group (56.2%). Only 23.2% of children adhered to the recommended 1 hour or less screen time per day, Fitzpatrick and colleagues wrote.
Children who had higher effortful control at age 3.5 years also had higher effortful control at age 5.5 years (< .001), and girls had higher effortful control than boys at ages 3.5 and 5.5 years (P < .001 for both), the researchers wrote. They also found higher stress among parents was negatively associated with children’s effortful control at ages 3.5 and 5.5 years (P < .001 for both).
Compared with participants in the low screen time group, those in the medium and high screen time groups had poorer inhibitory control (B = –5.24 and B = –9.3, respectively), cognitive flexibility (B = –4.5 and B = –10.12) and effortful control (B = –0.41 and B = –0.61).
The researchers found no significant differences between girls and boys.
“Our findings suggest that helping children limit their screen use may help them develop stronger cognitive self-regulation skills,” Fitzpatrick and colleagues wrote. “Given that these skills are central to children’s eventual ability to engage in planned and organized behavior, these findings suggest cautioning parents to use screens with young children in moderation.”
Collapse
Read more about