Childhood Adversities and Problematic Media Use among a Sample of Rural Chinese Youth

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Technology, Media & Child Development

Abstract

Background: Research has demonstrated that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have deleterious effects over the life course. However, few ACEs studies have examined if childhood adversity also has an impact on individuals’ problematic media use. The current study aims to extend research in this area by investigating the relationship between ACEs and problematic media use. Further, this study also explores if perceived stress mediates the association between ACEs and problematic media use.

Methods: 1,019 rural high school graduates from three different provinces of China participated in this study. A web-based survey was used to assess ten conventional adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which include child maltreatment experiences such as abuse and neglect along with indicators of household dysfunction, including domestic violence, parental mental illness, substance abuse, incarceration and divorce/separation. Participants’ media use was measured by 3 questions: Over the past 30 days, on average how many hours per day did you play computer games or play video games? Over the past 30 days, on average how many hours per day did you spend on your smartphone or tablet like Ipad? Over the past 30 days, on average how many hours per day did you watch TV or movies? Total media use hours was calculated. Participants’ perceived stress was assessed by the 4-item version of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4).

Descriptive analyses were performed for all study variables. Multivariate regressions were conducted to test associations between ACEs and media use time while controlling for sex, maternal and paternal education, maternal and paternal employment, family economic status, and number of siblings. Path analysis was also applied to assess whether participants’ perceived stress mediated the association between ACEs and media use.

Results: Three-fourths of rural Chinese youth endorsed at least one of ten conventional ACEs. The most prevalent ACEs were physical abuse (52.3%) and domestic violence (43.2%). The average social media use per day was 6.62 hours, and 58.7% of participants used media over 5 hours per day. Higher ACEs total scores significantly predicated more media use (β = .177; 95% CI = .036, .318). Among the ten types of ACEs, psychological abuse (β = 1.353; 95% CI = .420, 2.285) and household incarceration (β = 1.269; 95% CI = .525, 2.012) were significantly associated with problematic media use. Path analysis confirmed that ACEs total scores were associated with media use hours via participants’ perceived stress.

Conclusion: In this sample, evidence did support that higher ACEs scores predicted more media use. With psychological abuse and household incarceration found to be significantly associated with problematic media use. Further, perceived stress did mediate the association between ACEs scores and problematic media use. Prevention and intervention programs should be conducted in practice to mitigate the harmful effects of ACEs and problematic media use.

Authors

• Brianna Swarm, University of Northern Iowa
  Presenting Author

• Lixia Zhang, University of Northern Iowa
  Non-Presenting Author