Problematic Media use During the Pandemic: An Investigation among Peruvian Youth

• In Event: Children’s Problematic Media Use and Mental Health Concerns During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction
Problematic media use, or excessive use of digital media or devices that interferes with an adolescent’s functioning (Domoff et al., 2019), has been a focus of concern, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, recent research in the United States has indicated that youth have markedly increased time spent online during the height of the pandemic (Parents Together, 2020). However, it is not yet clear whether such increase in use is interfering with adolescent’s functioning. In a sample of Peruvian youth, our study seeks to (1) describe gender and grade differences in problematic media use during the pandemic; and, in a subset of the sample with data pre-COVID-19 examine: (2) whether problematic media use increases during the pandemic and (3) if anxiety and depression (pre-COVID-19) predicts an increase in problematic media use during the pandemic.

Hypotheses and population
We investigated gender and grade differences in self-reported problematic media use (PMU, Domoff et al., 2019) among 4942 Peruvian adolescents (11 - 17 years, 55% female) from low-to-middle income urban settings during week 7 of lockdown (April 2020). In a subset of 132 adolescents, we investigated longitudinal changes in PMU, and whether these were associated with depression and anxiety at baseline. We hypothesized that older adolescents would have higher levels of problematic media use, with similar rates for males and females. Further, we hypothesized that problematic media use would increase during lockdown, particularly for youth with mental health difficulties at baseline.

Methods
Data were collected among 6th to 11th-grade students in 63 schools in Perú during the COVID-19 lockdown from April 20th, 2020 (week 6) to May 29th, 2020 (week 11). Linear regressions were conducted to investigate grade and gender differences in youth-reported endorsement of problematic media use (PMUM, Domoff et al., 2019). In a subset of participants, we investigated longitudinal changes in PMUM scores. We explored whether depression and anxiety measured by the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Pediatric Item Bank v2.0 (PROMIS; Quinn et al., 2014) reported before lockdown, predicted PMUM scores during the pandemic, controlling for baseline PMUM scores, grade and gender.

Results and Conclusion
There were no gender differences in PMUM scores (β = 0.04, 95% CI [-0.01,0.10], t(4938) = 1.360, p = 0.174). There was a main effect of grade (β = 0.16, 95% CI [ 0.12, 0.19], t (4938) = 8.285, p < .001). Higher grades endorsed higher PMUM scores (see Figure 1 for pairwise comparisons). In a subset of youth who were administered the PMUM before the pandemic and during the pandemic, we found that problematic media use did not increase overall (t (111) = 1.37, p = .17). However, regression analyses supported our hypothesis that baseline anxiety and depression scores predicted greater problematic media use during the pandemic (see Table 1).

Peruvian youth with mental health concerns may be susceptible to greater problematic media use during the pandemic; scaffolding adaptive use of screens may be particularly important for these youth.

Authors

• Lucía Magis-Weinberg, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Sarah E. Domoff, Central Michigan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Estelle L. Berger, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alexa Zimbalist, University of California, Berkeley
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ron E Dahl, University of California, Berkeley
  Non-Presenting Author