No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
1-year above-recommendation screen use and internalizing and externalizing behaviours in French children aged 3 to 14 years
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2023
Abstract
The context of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the daily life of families and children. Screen exposure was increased during this period to maintain social relationships, work remotely, and occupy leisure time.
To explore the association of continued above-recommendation screen use for one year since May 2020 with behaviour problems in the summer of 2021 in children aged 3 to 14 years.
Data came from the French EpiCov cohort study, and were collected in May 2020 and at first (Autumn 2020) and second follow-up (Summer 2021) among 1,089 participants with children aged 3 to 14. Children had a 1-year above-recommendation screen use if their daily mean time exceeded recommendations at the three follow-up times (one hour, for children aged 3-5, two for the older ones). Behaviour problems were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and valid cut-offs for Internalizing (emotional or peer problems) and Externalizing (conduct problems or hyperactivity/inattention) problems completed in summer 2021. Data were analysed using adjusted logistic regression.
1-year above-recommendation screen use was not associated with internalizing problems (OR [95% CI]: 1.20 [0.90-1.59]). Regarding the subscales, it was associated with a higher risk of peer problems (1.42 [1.04-1.95]). A higher risk of externalizing problems was found only in 11-14-year-olds (1.63 [1.01-2.63]), especially conduct problems in 11-14-year-olds (1.91 [1.15-3.22]) but not in other age groups.
This study found that maintaining screen time beyond recommendations for 1 year since the onset of the pandemic was associated with peer problems in children aged 3-14 years and externalizing and conduct problems in 11-14 years. Despite this very specific context, exposure to screens is not trivial. If this situation were to occur again, we would have to anticipate, with prevention messages, by keeping schools open.
None Declared
- Type
- Abstract
- Information
- European Psychiatry , Volume 66 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 31st European Congress of Psychiatry , March 2023 , pp. S531 - S532
- Creative Commons
- This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
Comments
No Comments have been published for this article.