Educational screen time exposure and children’s literacy and numeracy skills

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Technology, Media & Child Development

Abstract

Screen time among children has tripled in recent years (Rideout, 2017) but literature investigating the role of screen time on children’s academic skills often overlooks differences among educational and non-educational content. Research has shown that non-educational programming can have harmful associations with academic skills (Huston & Wright, 1997). However, other work has demonstrated the educational value of programs like Sesame Street and Super WHY! (Mares & Pan, 2013; Linebarger, 2015). Research has yet to uncover the frequency with which families with young children integrate screen time into their daily routines, or the benefits of educational programming when examined within the larger context of all screen time. In this study, using time diary interviews, we provide a descriptive portrayal of preschool-aged children’s screen time activities and investigate the associations of educational and non-educational screen time with children’s numeracy and literacy skills.

Data were drawn from the Parents Promoting Early Learning Study, a longitudinal study of 128 four-year-old children (Mage=4.4 years, SDage=0.3). Children were 49% female and 80% White, and parents varied in income levels (M=$104,063, SD=$74,706). Time diaries were collected with two parent phone interviews, on a workday and non-workday, to obtain minutes of all parent and child activities in the previous 24 hours. Based on Commonsense Media and investigator review, all programs were coded as educational or non-educational. Children’s numeracy skills were assessed by the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Achievement subtest of Applied Problems (Woodcock et al., 2001), as well as a composite of counting skills and the Give-A-Number (Wynn, 1992) task. Literacy skills were assessed using the Developmental Vocabulary Assessment for Parents (DVAP; Libertus et al., 2015) and the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Awareness test (Wagner et al., 1999).

Table 1 shows that children spent a majority of their screen time watching television, engaging with age-appropriate content, and engaging in screen time with a parent. On both workdays and non-workdays, more than 60% of screen content was non-educational. Children were categorized by the screen time they experienced: no screen time, non-educational programs only, educational programs only, and both educational and non-educational programs. Table 2 shows results of regression analyses predicting numeracy and literacy by group, in two steps. The first step compares groups controlling for age. Step 2 controls for age and total screen time to determine if group differences among children who engage with screens remain if total screen time is controlled for. Step 1 shows the no screen time and educational only groups did not significantly differ in any models. In step 2, the non-educational screen time group showed significantly lower scores than the educational only group on vocabulary skills on non-workdays and on Applied Problems on workdays.

Preliminary findings indicate that preschool-aged children who are only exposed to educational screen time show similar skill levels as children who are not exposed to any screen time, and higher literacy and number skills compared to children viewing non-educational content. Future analyses will address the thresholds at which engaging with these programs becomes more or less beneficial.

Authors

• Linsah Coulanges, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Heather J. Bachman, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melissa E Libertus, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author