Types and contexts of child mobile screen use and associations with early childhood behavior

Abstract

With past research largely focusing on overall time spent using screen media (including televisions), little is known about how the type and context of mobile screen use in early childhood is associated with children's behavior. The current study aimed to examine how the proportions of time spent on types of engagement (program viewing vs. interactive app use) and social contexts (solo vs. co-use) of mobile screen use were associated with internalizing and externalizing behavior in early childhood, examined along with stability and change in patterns of use over a one-year period. Parents of young children (n = 536; 52% toddlers aged 1 to <3 and 48% preschoolers aged 3 to <6) completed measures of child mobile screen use (i.e., smartphone and tablet), traditional media use (e.g., television), and internalizing and externalizing behavior. A majority of early childhood mobile screen use was spent on program viewing, while interactive educational app use was the second most common activity. Over a one-year period, children were relatively stable in their type of engagement, and social contexts of use. There were no significant cross-sectional associations of behavior with types of engagement or social contexts of use. Nevertheless, contrary to the hypothesis, a lower proportion of program viewing (i.e., higher proportion of interactive engagement on games or apps) at baseline was associated with greater externalizing behavior at one-year follow-up in toddlers. The stability findings suggest that early childhood may be a crucial time within which persistent screen use patterns and habits are formed. The inconsistent associations of types and social contexts of mobile screen use with behavior show that other factors such as content, associated interactions and purpose of use may need to be considered to better understand how use of mobile technology may be implicated in early childhood psychosocial development.