School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Feb 8;18(4):1608. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041608.
Executive functions and psychosocial health during childhood are positively associated with health and developmental outcomes into adulthood. Electronic media use has been reported to adversely affect health and development in children; however, what remains unclear is whether contemporary media behaviors, such as electronic application (app) use, exerts similar effects on health and development. We investigated the associations of electronic media use (program viewing and app use) with cognitive and psychosocial development in preschoolers. Parents of preschool children ( = 247, 4.2 ± 0.6 years) reported the time their child spent using electronic media. Direct assessment of the children's executive functions (working memory, inhibition, and shifting) and educator-reported psychosocial difficulties were also collected. Associations were examined using linear regression adjustments for covariates and preschool clustering. Small, but significant, negative associations were observed for total electronic media use ( = -0.001; 95% CI: -0.003, -0.000; = 0.026) and program viewing ( = -0.002; 95% CI: -0.003, -0.000; = 0.033) with children's visual-spatial working memory. However, high-dose app users demonstrated higher phonological working memory scores compared to non-users ( = 0.31; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.58; = 0.025). Similarly, compared to non-users, low-dose app users displayed statistically significantly fewer total difficulties ( = -1.67; 95% CI: -3.31, -0.02; = 0.047). No associations were evident for high-dose app users and the remaining outcomes. The results may suggest that attempts to reduce program viewing while promoting moderate levels of app use may exert positive influences on children's executive functions and psychosocial development.
儿童时期的执行功能和心理社会健康与成年后的健康和发展结果呈正相关。有报道称，电子媒体的使用会对儿童的健康和发展产生不利影响；然而，目前尚不清楚当代媒体行为，如电子应用程序（app）的使用，是否对健康和发展产生类似的影响。我们研究了电子媒体使用（节目观看和 app 使用）与学龄前儿童认知和心理社会发展的关系。学龄前儿童的家长（n = 247，4.2 ± 0.6 岁）报告了他们孩子使用电子媒体的时间。还直接评估了儿童的执行功能（工作记忆、抑制和转换）和教育者报告的心理社会困难。使用线性回归调整协变量和学龄前聚类进行了关联检验。总电子媒体使用（ = -0.001；95%置信区间：-0.003，-0.000； = 0.026）和节目观看（ = -0.002；95%置信区间：-0.003，-0.000； = 0.033）与儿童的视觉空间工作记忆呈小但有统计学意义的负相关。然而，高剂量 app 用户的语音工作记忆得分高于非用户（ = 0.31；95%置信区间：0.04，0.58； = 0.025）。同样，与非用户相比，低剂量 app 用户的总困难数明显减少（ = -1.67；95%置信区间：-3.31，-0.02； = 0.047）。高剂量 app 用户和其余结果则没有关联。结果表明，减少节目观看量而促进适度使用 app 可能会对儿童的执行功能和心理社会发展产生积极影响。
