Poster #109 - Associations of child behavior with the context of smartphone and tablet use in early childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

Despite the pervasiveness of smartphones and tablets in the everyday lives of young children, there has been limited research examining associations between mobile device use and child psychosocial development. Most research to-date has been cross-sectional and has focused on traditional media such as television viewing or considered screen time as a combination of traditional and contemporary media (e.g., Duch et al., 2013; Carson et al., 2016; Kostyrka-Allchorne et al., 2017). Additionally, past research on mobile screen devices has largely focused on the overall time spent in relation to early childhood outcomes rather than the nuances or contexts of use (Mallawaarachchi et al., 2022). The current study examined how different contexts of use (i.e., passive vs. interactive use, solo vs. co-use) of smartphones and tablets in toddlers and preschoolers were associated with child internalizing and externalizing behavior over a 1 year period. 169 parents of toddlers or preschoolers provided child and parent demographics (see Table 1), information on duration of different types of child smartphone and tablet use (e.g., passive/ interactive entertainment, interactive educational), other media (e.g., TV) use, time spent on other activities such as play, and child behavior (internalizing and externalizing) at baseline and 1 year follow-up (see Table 2). Bivariate correlations and reciprocal multiple linear regression models were used separately for toddlers and preschoolers, to assess the associations between overall smartphone and tablet use, passive vs. interactive use, solo vs. co-use, and child behavior. The regression models were adjusted for covariates of child age, child gender, socio-economic status (SES), and TV time. Preschoolers demonstrated consistent significant associations between greater overall use at baseline and higher internalizing behavior at follow-up, as well as greater internalizing behavior at baseline and greater overall use at follow-up. In toddlers, greater interactive use (lesser passive use) at baseline was significantly associated with greater externalizing behavior at follow-up. SES was significantly associated with solo use in both preschoolers and toddlers, however inverse associations were observed, where higher SES was associated with less solo use in toddlers, but greater solo use in preschoolers. The results suggest that beyond screen time, the type of mobile screen use children engage in may also be important to socio-emotional skill development and behavior. The findings highlight the importance of targeted public health campaigns for early childhood, to optimize healthy use of mobile technology, but also that targeted programs for specific demographics such as SES, may be particularly helpful to ensure mobile screen use complements healthy child socio-emotional development.

Authors

• Sumudu Mallawaarachchi, Deakin University
  Presenting Author

• Sharon Horwood

• Jeromy Anglim