Excessive recreational computer use and food consumption behaviour among adolescents

Abstract

IntroductionUsing the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data, we explore the association between excessive recreational computer use and specific food consumption behavior among California's adolescents aged 12-17.MethodThe adolescent component of CHIS 2005 measured the respondents' average number of hours spent on viewing TV on a weekday, the average number of hours spent on viewing TV on a weekend day, the average number of hours spent on playing with a computer on a weekday, and the average number of hours spent on playing with computers on a weekend day. We recode these four continuous variables into four variables of "excessive media use," and define more than three hours of using a medium per day as "excessive." These four variables are then used in logistic regressions to predict different food consumption behaviors on the previous day: having fast food, eating sugary food more than once, drinking sugary drinks more than once, and eating more than five servings of fruits and vegetables. We use the following variables as covariates in the logistic regressions: age, gender, race/ethnicity, parental education, household poverty status, whether born in the U.S., and whether living with two parents.ResultsHaving fast food on the previous day is associated with excessive weekday TV viewing (O.R. = 1.38, p < 0.01). Having sugary food more than once is associated with excessive weekend TV viewing (O.R. = 1.50, p < 0.001). Having sugary drinks more than once is associated with excessive weekday TV viewing (O.R. = 1.41, p < 0.01), excessive weekday recreational computer use (O.R. = 1.38, p < 0.05), and excessive weekend TV viewing (O.R. = 1.43, p < 0.001). Finally, having more than five servings of fruits and vegetables on the previous day is negatively associated with all four media use variables: excessive weekday TV viewing (O.R. = 0.64, p < 0.001), excessive weekday recreational computer use (O.R. = 0.68, p < 0.01), excessive weekend TV viewing (O.R. = 0.80, p < 0.05), and excessive weekend recreational computer use (O.R. = 0.78, p < 0.05).ConclusionExcessive recreational computer use independently predicts undesirable eating behaviors that could lead to overweight and obesity. Preventive measures ranging from parental/youth counseling to content regulations might be addressing the potential undesirable influence from excessive computer use on eating behaviors among children and adolescents.

Sedentary behaviour and diet across the lifespan: an updated systematic review

“…For reference 28: adolescents in grades 8–10. For reference 38: adolescents mean age 14.4. For reference 9 and 31: adolescents in school years 9–12.…”

The association between acculturation and recreational computer use among Latino adolescents in California

“…To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to show the association between the sedentary behaviour of recreational computer use and acculturation: as Latino immigrant adolescents spend more time in the United States and use more English at home, they are likely to spend more time using the computer for recreational purposes. While the society could hail a decrease in the ‘digital gap’ and its possible benefit in increasing health literacy , parents, educators and health professionals should heed increases in recreational computer use that may contribute to the obesity epidemic . Proven interventions like screen time budgeting or activity‐promoting video games could be adopted to address the issue of excessive recreational computer use.…”

“…As recreational computer use is a sedentary behaviour of audio‐visual media consumption that closely resembles and gradually displaces television viewing among younger cohorts , we expect that the acculturation could also be associated with more recreational computer use among young Latinos. As excessive computer use has increasingly become a public health threat among youths while those second‐generation Latino immigrant adolescents are found more likely to be obese than the first‐generation Latino immigrants , it is necessary to study whether acculturation has played a role in Latino adolescents’ sedentary behaviour like recreational computer use.…”

Consumption patterns of sweetened food and drink products in a Catholic Middle Eastern Canadian community

“…This may reflect a shift in the use of technology, especially by adolescents and young adults, where computers, along with new media tools such as YouTube and Facebook, are replacing television as the number one sedentary activity. Excessive recreational computer use (.3 h/d) was associated with the consumption of sugary drinks, independent of television viewing, in a sample of Californian adolescents (52) . Other limitations of our study included the fact that participants were self-selected into the study.…”