Mobile Technology Use and School Readiness in Low Income Preschoolers

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

Abstract

Once a luxury, mobile devices are now utilized by most members of society, including young children of all SES-levels (Kabali et al., 2014). Unfortunately, little research has examined the effects of mobile media use in young children, and even less on children from low-SES communities. Because of structural, systemic inequities, children from low-SES families score significantly lower on school readiness measures that strongly predict long term achievement (e.g., Duncan & Magnuson, 2005). Past research on mobile media and school readiness is sparse. However, research focusing on television has found a negative relation with school readiness, but also suggests that the content and context of media use is important. We predicted that the same might apply for mobile devices, but this needs to be empirically evaluated because mobile technology differs in important ways.
Thus, the current study examined the relation between mobile media use and school readiness in preschoolers from families with low incomes. We hypothesized that overall, greater mobile media would be associated with lower school readiness in early childhood. In addition, if the mobile media use was educational, or if the parent reported close media monitoring, we predicted that the associations between mobile screen time and school readiness would be more positive.
Participants were 72 children aged 4- and 5-years-old and their primary caregivers. Mobile media use and parent monitoring was assessed by parent report. School readiness was evaluated as a composite of robust measures of preliteracy (TOPEL; Lonigan et al., 2007), emergent math (TEMA-3; Ginsburg & Baroody, 2003), and executive functioning (Bear Dragon; Reed et al., 1984).
Mobile technology use was above the recommended total screen time of 1 hour a day (mean hours per week = 9.68). Consistent with the opportunity gap, children scored below the population average on preliteracy and emergent math skills. Fewer than half of the families used educational apps (46.5%) and most parents strongly agreed that they closely monitored their child’s screen time (57.7%).
We found that weekly mobile media time significantly predicted poorer school readiness skills, even controlling for parent education (β = -.26, SEb = .11, p = .022). This negative relation was especially clear in regard to preschoolers’ executive functioning (β = -.26, SEb = .12, p = .022). In addition, children who used educational apps (M = 9.27) performed better on Bear Dragon than those who did not (M = 7.73), even when controlling for parent education and age (p < .01). However, neither use of educational apps nor parental monitoring moderated the relationship between mobile media use and school readiness.
To our knowledge, this study is the first to find a significant relation between mobile media use and school readiness with preschoolers from disadvantaged families. This is concerning because this sample already has lower school readiness than the general U.S. population, and their parents report considerable screen use. This study supports efforts to limit screen time of preschoolers and improve its quality and is a step towards understanding the complicated relation between achievement and mobile technology use.

Authors

• Trina Harmon, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Presenting Author

• David H Arnold, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Non-Presenting Author