Abstract
This study aimed to understand differences in leisure, educational/work and social screen time behaviours experienced by parents and children due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, which may inform behaviour change strategies and policy in the transition to a COVID-normal life. Participants in the “Our Life at Home” study (n = 218 parents from Australia, 43.4 ± 6.8 years, 88% female) completed a cross-sectional online survey in April/May 2020. Parents recalled their own and their child (8.7 ± 2.0 years, 42% female) or adolescents (15.0 ± 1.5 years, 50% female) participation in nine screen time behaviours in the past month (during lockdown) and retrospectively for February 2020 (pre-lockdown), providing data on 436 individuals. Screen time behaviours included leisure (computer/laptop and tablet/smartphone for leisure, TV/videos/DVDs and game consoles); education/work (computer/laptop and tablet/smartphone for work/education); and social screen time (computer/tablet/smartphone for social communication with friends, family and work (parents only)). Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and effect sizes (r) compared the time spent in each behaviour pre-lockdown and during lockdown. Large differences were observed in social (parents: r = 0.41–0.57; children: r = 0.55–0.65; adolescents: r = 0.28–0.43) and education (children: r = 0.50–0.65 and adolescents: r = 0.25–0.37) behaviours. There were small or no differences in leisure time screen use. COVID-19 lockdown restrictions have impacted parent’s and children’s screen time, and future research and policy should consider strategies to support families to manage screen time.
Highlights
The primary aim of this study was to examine differences in the duration of leisure, educational/work and social screen time behaviours from pre-COVID-19 restrictions (February 2020) to lockdown restrictions (April/May 2020) among parents and children in Australia
218 participants reported having a child aged 5- < 18 years old provided the required data to be included in the analyses
This study identified the differences in leisure, education/work and social screen time behaviours that parents and children performed from pre-COVID to during the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Australia in 2020
Summary
Excessive screen time (i.e., the use of electronic devices, such as smartphones, digital tablets, computers and televisions (TV)), during leisure time, places children and adults at increased risk of poor physical and psychosocial health. Excessive screen time in childhood can increase the risk of obesity and cardio-metabolic disease risk factors [1,2], myopia [3], poor mental health [4], lower social skills [5], lower school attainment [6] and lower social connectedness [7]. There is growing evidence that some of these associations are screen behaviour specific [6,7,11].
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