Managing Screen Time for Children with Externalizing Behavior: Low-Income Parents’ Experiences in a Pilot Intervention

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Technology, Media & Child Development

Abstract

Both excessive time spent viewing media on screens and viewing of developmentally inappropriate screen content in the preschool years have been linked to negative developmental outcomes (Schmidt et al., 2009; Zimmerman et al., 2014). However, interventions designed to encourage healthy screen use in preschool children have focused largely on overall screen time reduction without an equivalent emphasis on content. A focus on changing the content of children’s screen time to maximize benefits may be particularly important for parents with fewer economic resources and higher levels of parenting stress, including parents of children with externalizing behavior problems, who report more structural barriers (e.g., parents working long hours) to reducing overall amounts of child screen time (Bowling et al., 2019; Jarvis, Harrington, & Manson, 2017).

This study explored the experiences of a group (n=7) of low-income African American parents of children with externalizing behavior problems in managing their children’s screen time, and examined parents’ perceptions of a pilot screen time intervention that focused on both reducing overall screen time and increasing proportion of screen content that is educational (see Figure 1 for a handout outlining the major strategies). Parents participated in an initial focus group to discuss current experiences with managing children’s screen time. Parents then tried the intervention strategies for 3 weeks and logged their child’s daily screen use. They received reminder text messages with prompts to use the strategies twice weekly. Parents then participated in a second focus group and completed a survey to discuss their experiences trying to implement the strategies.

Parents reported overall negative perceptions of screen media and its impacts on children. Many parents expressed helplessness around controlling screen use and content, and primarily reported “all-or-none” approaches to managing screen time, whereby screen time was improved only when devices were entirely unavailable (e.g., when a device broke). Parents’ reactions to the pilot intervention strategies were generally positive, with particular enthusiasm for the strategies to replace existing screen time with high-quality content. They expressed concern about the feasibility of using reducing strategies given busy work schedules and other life demands. After 3 weeks, parents reported daily child screen time decreased on average by 20 mins, while the estimated proportion of total screen time that was educational increased, on average, from 30 to 55%. All parents reported using at least three of the suggested strategies (e.g., restricting tablet use to educational apps only) and reported increases in knowledge about where to find educational media. Barriers to implementing program strategies included difficulty maintaining consistency in implementing reduction and content monitoring strategies and lack of time to actively monitor child screen use.

Results suggest that even among parents who were dissatisfied with their children’s media use, structural barriers to implementing screen time reduction strategies were significant. Results also suggest that including a stronger focus on intervening around the quality of screen media content may be beneficial. These results provide implications for designing screen time interventions for low-income parents, and for parents of children with externalizing behavior or other special needs.

Authors

• Shayl Fiona Griffith, Florida International University
  Presenting Author

• Mary Hagan, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katie Hart, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel M Bagner, Florida International University
  Non-Presenting Author