Department of Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Regulatory Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea.
J Adolesc Health. 2024 Mar;74(3):504-513. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.10.021. Epub 2023 Dec 11.
Prior studies suggested an increase in screen time among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, due to limited sample size and a short-term observation period, these associations are inconclusive and inconsistent. Thus, we aimed to compare screen time during the pandemic and the long-term trend through a Korean large-scale and long-term study of one million adolescents.
Data from 2008 to 2021 on 913,191 Korean adolescents aged 12-18 years were obtained via a nationwide, large-scale, and serial study. We investigated the change of screen time use over time and the change in trend before and during the pandemic (2008-2019 vs. 2020-2021) by using weighted linear regression model with estimates of β-coefficients and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Moreover, we analyzed the differences in vulnerability of biopsychosocial factor before and during the pandemic.
A total of 913,191 adolescents were included in this analysis. During the pandemic, the overall screen time of Korean adolescents significantly increased compared to the expected based on the prepandemic period during the pre-COVID-19 period (weighted screen time before the pandemic [133.24 min/day; 95% CI, 132.08-134.40] vs. during the pandemic [303.66 min/day; 95% CI, 300.59-306.73]; β 0.331; 95% CI, 0.311-0.351). Comparing before and during the pandemic, potential risk factors associated with screen exposure included female sex, sadness, suicidal thoughts, alcohol consumption, low educational level of parents, low level of vigorous physical activity, middle school students, and low household income.
Through large-scale nationwide study, this study described the 14-year trend of screen time among Korean adolescents. In the era of COVID-19, the prevalence of screen exposure has been increasing more rapidly than before at the population level. Also, the pandemic amplified the differences in screen time across grade, sex, sadness, suicidal thoughts, smoking, alcohol consumption, education level of parents, physical activity, and household income groups.
先前的研究表明，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，青少年的屏幕使用时间增加；然而，由于样本量有限且观察期较短，这些关联尚无定论且不一致。因此，我们旨在通过对韩国的一项针对 100 万青少年的大规模、长期研究来比较大流行期间和长期的屏幕使用时间。
通过一项全国性、大规模、连续的研究，获得了 2008 年至 2021 年期间 913191 名 12-18 岁韩国青少年的数据。我们通过加权线性回归模型，利用β系数和 95%置信区间（CI）的估计值，研究了随着时间的推移，屏幕使用时间的变化以及大流行前后（2008-2019 年与 2020-2021 年）的趋势变化。此外，我们分析了在大流行前后，生物心理社会因素的脆弱性差异。
共有 913191 名青少年参与了这项分析。与大流行前的 COVID-19 期间相比，韩国青少年在大流行期间的整体屏幕时间明显增加（大流行前的加权屏幕时间[133.24 分钟/天；95%CI，132.08-134.40]与大流行期间[303.66 分钟/天；95%CI，300.59-306.73]；β0.331；95%CI，0.311-0.351）。与大流行前相比，与屏幕暴露相关的潜在风险因素包括女性、悲伤、自杀念头、饮酒、父母教育水平低、剧烈体力活动水平低、中学生和低收入家庭。
通过大规模的全国性研究，本研究描述了韩国青少年 14 年来的屏幕时间趋势。在 COVID-19 时代，人口层面的屏幕暴露率增长速度比以前更快。此外，大流行放大了年级、性别、悲伤、自杀念头、吸烟、饮酒、父母教育水平、体力活动和家庭收入群体之间的屏幕时间差异。
