Screen Use and Mental Health Symptoms in Canadian Children and Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
JAMA Netw Open
; 4(12): e2140875, 2021 12 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1595340
ABSTRACT
Importance Longitudinal research on specific forms of electronic screen use and mental health symptoms in children and youth during COVID-19 is minimal. Understanding the association may help develop policies and interventions targeting specific screen activities to promote healthful screen use and mental health in children and youth. Objective:
To determine whether specific forms of screen use (television [TV] or digital media, video games, electronic learning, and video-chatting time) were associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, conduct problems, irritability, hyperactivity, and inattention in children and youth during COVID-19. Design, Setting, andParticipants:
A longitudinal cohort study with repeated measures of exposures and outcomes was conducted in children and youth aged 2 to 18 years in Ontario, Canada, between May 2020 and April 2021 across 4 cohorts of children or youth 2 community cohorts and 2 clinically referred cohorts. Parents were asked to complete repeated questionnaires about their children's health behaviors and mental health symptoms during COVID-19. Main Outcomes andMeasures:
The exposure variables were children's daily TV or digital media time, video game time, electronic-learning time, and video-chatting time. The mental health outcomes were parent-reported symptoms of child depression, anxiety, conduct problems and irritability, and hyperactivity/inattention using validated standardized tools.Results:
This study included 2026 children with 6648 observations. In younger children (mean [SD] age, 5.9 [2.5] years; 275 male participants [51.7%]), higher TV or digital media time was associated with higher levels of conduct problems (age 2-4 years ß, 0.22 [95% CI, 0.10-0.35]; P < .001; age ≥4 years ß, 0.07 [95% CI, 0.02-0.11]; P = .007) and hyperactivity/inattention (ß, 0.07 [95% CI, 0.006-0.14]; P = .04). In older children and youth (mean [SD] age, 11.3 [3.3] years; 844 male participants [56.5%]), higher levels of TV or digital media time were associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and inattention; higher levels of video game time were associated with higher levels of depression, irritability, inattention, and hyperactivity. Higher levels of electronic learning time were associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety. Conclusions and Relevance In this cohort study, higher levels of screen use were associated poor mental health of children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings suggest that policy intervention as well as evidence-informed social supports are needed to promote healthful screen use and mental health in children and youth during the pandemic and beyond.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pandemics
/
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
/
Screen Time
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
JAMA Netw Open
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Jamanetworkopen.2021.40875
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