Excessive screen time is associated with emotional lability in preschool children

Abstract

Introduction. Previous studies have found that excessive screen time or early screen exposure is associated with poor attention, lack of behavioral control, delayed language and deficit in executive functions. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between screen time and emotion regulation skills, which is one of the important life components affecting the social relations of children aged 2 to 5 years. Population and methods. This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in a university hospital between January 1, 2018 and March 1, 2018. Mothers of healthy children aged 2-5 years with a daily screen time of less than 1 hour or over 4 hours were included in the study. A structured survey and the Emotion Regulation Checklist for parents were applied to the mothers who agreed to participate. Results. Of 240 children participating in the study, 98 (40.8 %) had ≥4 hours of screen time. Caring by mother, age at first screen exposure 12 months and older, not co-viewing with parents were found to be associated with ≥ 4 hours of screen time (p = 0.002, p = 0.002, p = 0.012, respectively). The ratio of participants with highlability/negativity (L/N) score was significantly higher in children with screen time of ≥ 4 hours and not co-viewing with parents (p = 0.004, p = 0.033, respectively). Conclusions. This study investigating the relationship between the emotion regulation skill and screen time revealed that excessive screen time is associated with emotional lability in this early childhood period.

Evaluation of problematic screen exposure in pre-schoolers using a unique tool called “seven-in-seven screen exposure questionnaire”: cross-sectional study

“…Also, similar associations were found in this study in terms of PSE by scoring daily screen time according to its volume. Association between lower parental education and excessive screen time is known [ 5 , 20 , 21 ]. Yalcin et al reported a negative correlation between TV viewing time and paternal education [ 5 ].…”

Parenting app to support socio-emotional and cognitive development in early childhood: iterative codesign learnings from nine low-income and middle-income countries

“…Excessive screen time can have a negative impact on children's sleep-wake cycle (when used at night), parent-child interaction and behaviour management. [39][40][41][42] As such, new CAs inform parents about the potential negative impacts of excessive screen time for young children and provide strategies to engage children in alternative activities.…”

Interplay between Children’s Electronic Media Use and Prosocial Behavior: The Chain Mediating Role of Parent–Child Closeness and Emotion Regulation

“…Günaydin et al and Özer et al corroborated this by identifying a significant link between problematic internet use and challenges in emotion regulation [ 42 , 43 ]. Moreover, Oflu et al emphasized that excessive screen time was associated with the negative development of emotional regulation in early childhood [ 44 ]. Echoing these findings, Hidayatullah et al reported that internet-addicted individuals exhibited significant difficulties with emotion regulation [ 45 ].…”