Associations Between Bedroom Television And Child Versus Parent-reports Of Youth Screen Time And Sleep Duration

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Child self-report and parent proxy-report are frequently used for assessing youth sleep duration (SLP) and screen time (ST) behaviors; however, ?discrepancies in the reporting of youth SLP and ST between children and parents are not well understood. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine if family ST rules and child bedroom televisions (BTV) were associated with discrepancies between child and parent reports of youth SLP and ST behaviors. METHODS: Children aged 8-11 self-reported their SLP and ST behaviors, if they had a BTV, and demographic information. Parents report?ed ?information about their child’s SLP and ST behaviors, family ?ST rules, and family characteristics (i.e. income, marital status, etc.). The prevalence of parents reporting less healthy, similar, or healthier behaviors compared to child-reports was calculated. Separate linear regression models examined if BTV and family ?ST rules were predictive of the discrepancies in the reporting of youth’s SLP and ST between parents and children. RESULTS: Parents reported healthier child behaviors (less screen time and more sleep) compared to child reports. Linear regression models identified child BTV as a significant predictor of discrepancies in child-parent reporting for both, SLP and ST (p=.01 and p=.03, respectively), but not family ST rules (both p < .05) CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a child BTV contributes to discrepancies in child and parent reporting of youth’s SLP and ST behaviors. Future work evaluating youth SLP and ST behaviors using survey tools and national data collection protocols should capture information about the presence of a child BTV.