Media Multitasking and Attention Problems in Adolescents: Assessing Causality

• In Event: Recent Discoveries on the Relationship Between Media Use and ADHD

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of media multitasking among adolescents has raised concerns that media multitasking may increase attention problems. Despite first cross-sectional evidence on a relationship between media multitasking and attention problems, no study has yet investigated this relationship longitudinally to establish the causal direction of this relationship. The aim of the present study was to assess the causality of the relationship between media multitasking and attention problems among a large sample of 902 adolescents (aged 11 to 17). Respondents filled in questionnaires two times with 6-month time lags. The findings of an autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation model suggest that media multitasking does increase attention problems among adolescents but not vice versa. The study thus provides first empirical evidence for the potential detrimental long-term effects of media multitasking.

Authors

• Susanne E. Baumgartner, U of Amsterdam

• Jeroen S Lemmens, U of Amsterdam