Abstract
Excessive screen time among adolescents increases risk for overweight/obesity. Having electronic devices in the adolescent’s bedroom is associated with more screen time. The present study expanded on previous studies by also examining portable personal electronic devices and social media membership as correlates of screen time use and total sedentary time in the school year and summer among diverse low-income adolescents. Adolescents aged 10-17 years were recruited from lower-income areas, and n=150 completed surveys and wore accelerometers in both the school year and summer: 34 African Americans, 23 American Indians, 16 Asian/Pacific Islanders, 39 Latinos, and 38 White/non-Hispanics. Total sedentary time was computed from accelerometers. Recreational screen time was assessed with a 3-item validated scale. Adolescents reported the presence of 6 electronic devices in their bedrooms, ownership of 4 portable devices, and social media membership. General linear modeling was conducted for both time periods, with demographic covariates and interactions with sex and race-ethnicity. More electronic devices in bedrooms were related to more screen time during the school year and summer, and to more total sedentary time in summer. Personal electronics were only related to more screen time in the school year. Social media membership was related to more total sedentary time in summer, but only among African Americans, American Indians, and non-Hispanic Whites. Electronic devices in bedrooms was confirmed as a risk factor for sedentary behavior among low-income adolescents of color. Social media membership and use should be further studied with diverse adolescents.
Highlights
Sitting is a highly prevalent behavior among youth worldwide
Participants’ reports of number of electronic devices in the bedroom, number of portable personal electronics, and having social media accounts were generally consistent across school-year and summer surveys
Minutes per week of screen time was significantly positively associated with having more electronic devices in one’s bedroom (p = .011) and having more personal electronics (p = .020)
Summary
Sitting is a highly prevalent behavior among youth worldwide. In a longitudinal study in the United Kingdom that used accelerometers, children aged 7 years spent about half of their waking time sedentary, but by age 15, they were sedentary three-quarters of waking time (Janssen et al, 2016). In 2009, youth in the United States reported about 7 hours of total daily screen time, with 4.5 hours of television, 1.5 hours of recreational computer use, and 1.2 hours of gaming (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010). Compared to a large literature on correlates of physical activity (Bauman et al, 2012), evidence about correlates of sedentary behavior and screen time among youth is limited (Barnett et al, 2018). Psychological variables have not been widely studied, and neighborhood physical activity environment attributes have rarely been related to screen time or sedentary behaviors in youth (Barnett et al, 2018). The strongest evidence is number of televisions, computers, and game consoles in the home (Hoyos, Cillero, & Jago, 2010; Pate et al, 2011; Veldhuis et al, 2014), but having these devices in the bedroom, especially, is related to more screen time (Atkin, Corder, & van Sluijs, 2013; Borghese et al, 2015; Delmas et al, 2007; Gingold, Simon, & Schoendorf, 2014; Ramirez et al, 2011; Roberts et al, 2017; Salmon et al, 2011; Tandon et al, 2014; Veldhuis et al, 2014), video game play (Ramirez et al, 2011), and accelerometry-assessed sedentary time among youth (Atkin, Corder, & van Sluijs, 2013; Barnett et al, 2018)
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