Exposure to screens and children\u2019s language development in the EDEN mother\u2013child cohort

Pauline Martinot,Barbara Heude,Maria De Agostini,Anne Forhan,Jonathan Y Bernard,Sabine Plancoulaine,Marie-Aline Charles,Hugo Peyre

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-90867-3

Abstract

Studies in children have reported associations of screen time and background TV on language skills as measured by their parents. However, few large, longitudinal studies have examined language skills assessed by trained psychologists, which is less prone to social desirability. We assessed screen time and exposure to TV during family meals at ages 2, 3 and 5–6 years in 1562 children from the French EDEN cohort. Language skills were evaluated by parents at 2 years (Communicative Development Inventory, CDI) and by trained psychologists at 3 (NEPSY and ELOLA batteries) and 5–6 years (verbal IQ). Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations were assessed by linear regression adjusted for important confounders. Overall, daily screen time was not associated with language scores, except in cross-sectional at age 2 years, where higher CDI scores were observed for intermediate screen time. Exposure to TV during family meals was consistently associated with lower language scores: TV always on (vs never) at age 2 years was associated with lower verbal IQ (− 3.2 [95% IC: − 6.0, − 0.3] points), independent of daily screen time and baseline language score. In conclusion, public health policies should better account for the context of screen watching, not only its amount.

Highlights

Abbreviations CDI Communicative Development Inventory EDEN Etude des Déterminants pré et postnatals précoces du développement de la santé de l’Enfant [Study of the Early Pre and Postnatal Determinants of Childhood Health Development] intelligence quotient (IQ) Intelligence quotient
As compared with children excluded from our analyses, those included had a lower number of older siblings, lived in households of higher income and education level, and were born to mothers with lower pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and less frequently smoked during pregnancy (Supplementary Table S1)
Screen time and frequency of TV on during family meals were positively correlated with each other (Spearman correlations: 0.24, 0.31, 0.40 at ages [2, 3] and [5,6] years, respectively)

Summary

Introduction

Abbreviations CDI Communicative Development Inventory EDEN Etude des Déterminants pré et postnatals précoces du développement de la santé de l’Enfant [Study of the Early Pre and Postnatal Determinants of Childhood Health Development] IQ Intelligence quotient. Research has provided convincing evidence that it may lead to poorer cognitive and behavioral outcomes[5,6,7], the observed effects largely depend on the age, the media content and the social and family context of viewing[5,7]. There is limited evidence from large epidemiological studies on the role of the context of TV exposure on language development of pre-school children. Disparate findings in the literature may be attributed to sampling differences due to small sample sizes, type of screen time measurement, and use of different language assessments. Most of these studies were cross-sectional and focused on children younger than age 3 years, which limits drawing conclusions on potential reverse causation. Few longitudinal studies have used specific psychological tests to assess language development and most studies rely on parental evaluation of the child’s language skills

Methods

Results

Conclusion