School of Population and Public Health, the Human Early Learning Partnership, The University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, BC, V6T 1Z3, Vancouver, Canada.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Feb 15;22(1):310. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-12701-3.
Research has shown that longer hours of screen time are negatively associated with children's healthy development. Whereas most research has focused on school-age children, less is known about this association in early childhood. To fill this gap, we examined the association between screen time and developmental health in preschool-aged children.
This study draws from a data linkage on children (N = 2983; Mean age = 5.2, SD = 0.3 years, 51% male) in British Columbia (BC), Canada, who entered Kindergarten in public elementary schools in 2019. Parent reports on children's screen time, health behaviors, demographics, and family income collected upon kindergarten entry (09/2019), were linked to teacher reports on children's developmental health, collected halfway through the school year (02/2020). Screen time was assessed with the Childhood Experiences Questionnaire. Developmental vulnerability versus developmental health in five domains (physical, social, emotional, language and cognition, and communication skills) was measured with the Early Development Instrument.
Logistic regression analyses using generalized estimating equation showed that children with more than one hour of daily screen time were more likely to be vulnerable in all five developmental health domains: physical health and wellbeing (odds ratio [OR] =1.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99 - 2.0; p=0.058), social competence (OR=1.60; 95% CI, 1.16 - 2.2; p=0.004), emotional maturity (OR=1.29; 95% CI, 0.96 - 1.73; p=0.097), language and cognitive development (OR=1.81; 95% CI, 1.19 - 2.74; p=0.006) and communication skills (OR=1.60; 95% CI, 1.1 - 2.34; p=0.015) compared to children reporting up to one hour of screen time/day. An interaction effect between income and screen time on developmental health outcomes was non-significant. Results were adjusted for child demographics, family income, and other health behaviors.
Daily screen time that exceeds the recommended one-hour limit for young children, as suggested by the Canadian 24-h Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth (Tremblay et al. BMC Public Health. 17:874, 2017; Tremblay J Physical Activity Health. 17:92-5, 2020) is negatively associated with developmental health outcomes in early childhood. Screen-based activities should thus be limited for young children. Future research needs to examine the underlying mechanisms through which screen time is linked to developmental vulnerabilities.
研究表明，屏幕时间过长与儿童的健康发展呈负相关。虽然大多数研究都集中在学龄儿童，但对于幼儿期的这种关联知之甚少。为了填补这一空白，我们研究了屏幕时间与学龄前儿童发育健康之间的关系。
本研究基于不列颠哥伦比亚省（BC）的数据链接，涉及 2983 名儿童（平均年龄为 5.2 岁，标准差为 0.3 岁，51%为男性），他们于 2019 年在公立小学上幼儿园。在幼儿园入学时（2019 年 9 月），家长报告了儿童的屏幕时间、健康行为、人口统计学和家庭收入，这些数据与教师在学年中途（2020 年 2 月）报告的儿童发育健康数据相链接。屏幕时间使用儿童经历问卷进行评估。使用早期发展工具测量五个领域（身体、社会、情感、语言和认知以及沟通技巧）的发育脆弱性与发育健康。
使用广义估计方程的逻辑回归分析显示，每天有超过一小时屏幕时间的儿童在所有五个发育健康领域更容易出现脆弱性：身体健康和幸福感（优势比[OR]为 1.41；95%置信区间[CI]为 0.99-2.0；p=0.058）、社会能力（OR=1.60；95% CI，1.16-2.2；p=0.004）、情感成熟度（OR=1.29；95% CI，0.96-1.73；p=0.097）、语言和认知发展（OR=1.81；95% CI，1.19-2.74；p=0.006）和沟通技巧（OR=1.60；95% CI，1.1-2.34；p=0.015）与报告每天屏幕时间不超过一小时的儿童相比。收入和屏幕时间对发育健康结果的交互作用不显著。结果调整了儿童人口统计学、家庭收入和其他健康行为因素。
加拿大 24 小时儿童和青年运动指南（Tremblay 等人，BMC 公共卫生。17：874，2017；Tremblay J Physical Activity Health。17：92-5，2020）建议，儿童每天的屏幕时间不应超过一小时，超过这一限制与幼儿的发育健康结果呈负相关。因此，幼儿的屏幕活动应受到限制。未来的研究需要研究通过屏幕时间与发育脆弱性相关联的潜在机制。
