Association between mobile phone use in young children and caregiver-rated health

Abstract

The association between mobile phone or tablet use and children’s health remains unclear. The main aim of this study was to examine whether caregiver-rated health and children’s mental disorders were related to their mobile phone use. We conducted a multistage sampling Internet survey of 1535 caregivers living with children aged 0–14 years in Japan. Using this cross-sectional data, multiple regression models were used to test for relationships among factors related to mobile phone use, caregiver-rated child health, and mental disorders. Total mobile phone use time was related to age, number of siblings, availability of Wi-Fi at home, and the child’s ownership of a mobile phone. Age and availability of Wi-Fi at home were positively related to tablet use, but neither the number of siblings nor the child’s ownership of a tablet were related to tablet use. In addition, we examined that tablet use (Odds ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.39–1.00) and Wi-Fi use (Odds ratio 0.66, 95% CI 0.47–0.93) were related to low caregiver-rated child health among preschool students. It was newly pointed out that tablet and Wi-Fi use were related to low caregiver-rated child health among preschool students. As young children are likely to be exposed to internet for the purpose of babysitting, this study suggested that parents should be aware of mental influence for tablets and Wi-Fi use.