A Longitudinal Study of the Relation between Childhood Activities and Psychosocial Adjustment in Early Adolescence.

Rosa S Wong,Patrick Ip,Keith T S Tung,Fan Jiang,Nirmala Rao,Frederick K W Ho,David Coghill,Jason C S Yam,King-Wa Fu,Ko Ling Chan,Ian C K Wong,Winnie W Y Tso

doi:10.3390/ijerph18105299

Abstract

Background: Although an increasing body of research shows that excessive screen time could impair brain development, whereas non-screen recreational activities can promote the development of adaptive emotion regulation and social skills, there is a lack of comparative research on this topic. Hence, this study examined whether and to what extent the frequency of early-life activities predicted later externalizing and internalizing problems. Methods: In 2012/13, we recruited Kindergarten 3 (K3) students from randomly selected kindergartens in two districts of Hong Kong and collected parent-report data on children’s screen activities and parent–child activities. In 2018/19, we re-surveyed the parents of 323 students (aged 11 to 13 years) with question items regarding their children’s externalizing and internalizing symptoms in early adolescence. Linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between childhood activities and psychosocial problems in early adolescence. Results: Early-life parent–child activities (β = −0.14, p = 0.012) and child-alone screen use duration (β = 0.15, p = 0.007) independently predicted externalizing problems in early adolescence. Their associations with video game exposure (β = 0.19, p = 0.004) and non-screen recreational parent–child activities (β = −0.14, p = 0.004) were particularly strong. Conclusions: Parent–child play time is important for healthy psychosocial development. More efforts should be directed to urge parents and caregivers to replace child-alone screen time with parent–child play time.

Highlights

Behavioral problems can be understood as internalizing and externalizing problems.Internalizing problems generally refer to emotional symptoms such as anxiety and depression, whereas externalizing problems are observable rule-breaking behavior such as delinquency and aggression
More externalizing problems at time 2 were significantly associated with fewer parent–child activities (β = −0.14, p = 0.012) and more time spent by children on screen activities (β = 0.15, p = 0.007) at time 1
Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that spending more time on non-screen parent–child activities and less time on child-alone video game activities predicted fewer externalizing problems in early adolescence

Summary

Introduction

Internalizing problems generally refer to emotional symptoms such as anxiety and depression, whereas externalizing problems are observable rule-breaking behavior such as delinquency and aggression. These problems often persist into adulthood and increase. Results: Early-life parent–child activities (β = −0.14, p = 0.012) and child-alone screen use duration (β = 0.15, p = 0.007) independently predicted externalizing problems in early adolescence. Their associations with video game exposure (β = 0.19, p = 0.004) and non-screen recreational parent–child activities (β = −0.14, p = 0.004) were strong. More efforts should be directed to urge parents and caregivers to replace child-alone screen time with parent–child play time

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Discussion

Conclusion