The Children’s Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ; Wardle, Guthrie, Sanderson, & Rapoport, 2001) is a widely used measure of child eating behaviors. Yet, only one study has examined the factor structure of the CEBQ among low-income children. In the current study, we examined the internal consistency, factor structure, and validity of the CEBQ among 1002 low-income preschool-age children recruited from Head Start locations in the United States. Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated the CEBQ evidenced a reasonable fit to the data. Results also indicate that CEBQ subscales demonstrate good internal reliability (α’s ≥ .70) and validity, with 7 of the 8 subscales associated with children’s BMI z-scores in the expected directions. Equivalent factor loadings and indicator means across White and Black non-Hispanic participants were found, supporting measurement invariance between these two groups. In sum, our study supports the factor structure of the CEBQ among low-income preschool-aged children in the United States.

Although problematic media use among adolescents is of wide interest, less is known regarding problematic media use among younger children. The current study reports on the development and validation of a parent-report measure of one potential aspect of children’s problematic use-screen media addiction-via the Problematic Media Use Measure (PMUM). Items were based on the nine criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder in the DSM-5. The first study describes the development and preliminary validation of the PMUM in a sample of 291 mothers. Mothers (80.8% identified as White) of children 4 through 11 years of age completed the PMUM and measures of child screen time and child psychosocial functioning. EFA indicated a unidimensional construct of screen media addiction. The final versions of the PMUM (27 items) and PMUM Short Form (PMUM-SF, 9 items) evidenced high internal consistency (Cronbach α = .97 and α = .93, respectively). Regression analyses were conducted to examine convergent validity of the PMUM with indicators of child psychosocial functioning. Convergent validity was supported and the PMUM scales also independently predicted children’s total difficulties in functioning, over and above hours of screen time, indicating incremental validity. The second study sought to confirm the factor structure of the PMUM-SF and test for measurement invariance across gender. In a sample of 632 parents, we confirmed the factor structure of the PMUM-SF and found measurement invariance for boys and girls. These studies support the use of the PMUM-SF as a measure of screen media addiction in children ages 4 through 11 years old.

The growth of mobile device access and ownership has yielded many opportunities and challenges for raising healthy digital media consumers. As adoption of mobile and internet-connected devices has increased among children, concerns for healthy child development have been expressed regarding excessive or problematic use. Although much theoretical and empirical work has been conducted evaluating adolescents' and adults' risks for dependence on various screen media (e.g., Gaming Disorder, Internet Addiction), little theoretical consideration has been expounded regarding the etiology and maintenance of problematic media use earlier in childhood (i.e., under age 12 years). The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework through which to investigate problematic media use in early childhood. Our theory, the Interactional Theory of Childhood Problematic Media Use (IT-CPU) merges developmental and clinical psychology theories, with communication and humancomputer interaction perspectives. We outline distal and proximal factors that we hypothesize contribute to the development of problematic media use in childhood, and emphasize maintaining factors that could be targets for intervention. Finally, we provide recommendations for an interdisciplinary research agenda to test our proposed theory and inform experimental trials to prevent and treat childhood problematic media use.

These results suggest that boredom is an important construct, and that it should be considered a separate dimension of emotional eating.

Parental mediation of screen media (e.g., television, video games) is associated with better outcomes for children. Although much research has examined parental mediation of television (TV), there is a dearth of research examining communication about mobile media (e.g., Smartphones, tablets) in the digital age. This study seeks to identify themes of family communication around media and mobile devices using naturalistic observational methodology. The sample consisted of 21 toddlers (ages 12-24-months old), 31 preschool-age children (3-5 years old), and 23 school-age (10-13 years old) children and their families. Children wore Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) audio recording devices, which recorded vocalizations and other sounds proximal to the child wearing the device in the home environment, as well as audible screen media use. ATLAS.ti was used to transcribe dialogue from the audio recordings that pertained to screen media. Experts from the fields of communication, clinical child psychology, and developmental-behavioral pediatrics independently analyzed the transcripts to identify