American Children’s Screen Time: Diminished Returns of Household Income in Black Families

Abstract

While increased household income is associated with overall decreased screen time for children, less is known about the effect of racial variation on this association. According to Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) theory, family income and other economic resources show weaker association with children’s developmental, behavioral, and health outcomes for racialized groups such as black families, due to the effect of racism and social stratification. In this study, we investigated the association, by race, between family income and children’s screen time, as a proxy of screen time. This longitudinal study followed 15,022 American children aged 9–11 over a 1-year period. The data came from the baseline of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The independent variable was family income, and it was categorized as a three-level nominal variable. The dependent variable, screen time, was a continuous variable. Ethnicity, gender, parental education, and marital status were the covariates. The results showed that family income was inversely associated with children’s screen time. However, there was a weaker inverse association seen in black families when compared with white families. This was documented by a significant statistical interaction between race and family income on children’s screen time. Diminished association between family income and children’s screen time for black families, compared with white families, is similar to MDRs and reflects a health risk to high-income black children. In a society where race and skin color determine opportunities and treatment by society, children from middle class black families remain at risk across multiple domains. We should not assume that income similarly promotes the health of all racial and ethnic groups. Addressing health and behavioral inequalities requires interventions that go beyond equalizing socioeconomic resources for black families. Marginalization, racism, and poverty interfere with the normal family income-related development of American children.

Parental Educational Attainment, the Superior Temporal Cortical Surface Area, and Reading Ability among American Children: A Test of Marginalization-Related Diminished Returns

“…Given the replicability crisis of psychological and social studies [ 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 ] and the need to test the replicability of the results [ 105 ] overall and in the ABCD study [ 106 ], we ran several robustness checks to further test the validity of our results . These included: (1) models in the absence and presence of covariates, (2) models in the full sample and those that met imaging quality indicators, (3) models with and without a propensity score, and (4) models on the right and the left-brain hemispheres.…”

“…For example, black parents may understand, from generations of disadvantage, that they must work twice as hard as white people to achieve half as much [ 70 ]. Nevertheless, structural factors are stacked against them, in terms of fewer educational resources, if they live in a district with predominantly non-white families [ 10 ], teacher discrimination [ 103 ], differential disciplinary actions [ 104 ], differential teacher expectations and grading [ 104 ], differential teacher preparedness [ 105 ], and less access to academic enrichment opportunities [ 106 ]. More educated black families may be more likely than their white counterparts to help their children in ways that are in their control, such as reading to them and supporting activities that may help reading more than other areas, such as math and science, which may require more time and resources.…”

“…This reading ability result may also indicate that families can overcome the negative effects of MDRs when they engage in enrichment activities of their own, but this does not change the fact that fundamental structural change is necessary because such activities are essentially a tax for black families as a way to keep up with their more privileged white counterparts. In some recent ABCD study data analyses, the SES effects on neurocognitive domains are weaker for black than white children [ 60 , 77 , 105 ]. In one study, the effects of parental education on mental rotation (a specific cognitive task) was weaker in black than white children [ 107 ].…”

“…Given the replicability crisis of psychological and social studies [101][102][103][104] and the need to test the replicability of the results [105] overall and in the ABCD study [106], we ran several robustness checks to further test the validity of our results . These included:…”

Resting-State Functional Connectivity between Putamen and Salience Network and Childhood Body Mass Index

“…As a result of MDRs, regardless of risk or protective factors such as age, SES, coping, health, or affect, Non-Hispanic Black children remain at risk of tobacco use [ 33 ], anxiety [ 45 ], ADHD [ 29 ], depression [ 85 ], suicide [ 27 ], obesity [ 44 ], poor diet [ 86 ], high screen time [ 87 ], and low physical activity [ 88 ]. While for Non-Hispanic White children, individual level risk factors have high salience on aggression, obesity, tobacco use, and chronic disease, for Non-Hispanic Black children, individual-level risk and protective factors show diminished effects [ 31 ].…”