Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
BMC Pediatr. 2024 Aug 3;24(1):500. doi: 10.1186/s12887-024-04915-8.
Electronic media (e-media) has become a universal part of young children's daily lives. Previous studies have found an association between increased screen time and children's psychosocial symptoms. We investigated whether parents' psychological distress and parenting style dimensions explain the association between children's screen time and psychosocial symptoms. Moreover, we investigated whether parents' mental well-being and parenting style dimensions moderate this association.
We used data from the Finnish CHILD-SLEEP birth cohort study. Parents and the child were assessed when the child was 5 years old (N = 671). The measure of screen time included program viewing from TV and other devices. Child's psychosocial problems and parents' depression, stress and parenting style dimensions were assessed by self-reports.
A high level of screen time in children was associated with attention and concentration difficulties, hyperactivity and impulsivity symptoms as well as internalizing and externalizing symptoms among 5-year-olds. For the most part, the associations remained significant despite controlling for parents' mental health, parenting style dimensions and multiple background factors, especially associations relating to attention and concentration difficulties and hyperactivity symptoms were robust. Maternal stress and depression moderated the association between children's screen time and psychosocial symptoms, indicating a more pronounced association among stressed or depressed mothers.
There is an independent association between children's screen time and psychosocial symptoms which is especially pronounced among those children whose mothers had poorer mental well-being. In clinical practice, the length of screen time should be inquired already at a young age and parents should be offered guidance to reduce the possible ill effects of excessive screen time, as well as help with their own mental health problems.
电子媒体（e-media）已成为儿童日常生活的普遍组成部分。先前的研究发现，屏幕时间的增加与儿童的心理社会症状之间存在关联。我们调查了父母的心理困扰和育儿方式维度是否可以解释儿童屏幕时间与心理社会症状之间的关联。此外，我们还调查了父母的心理健康和育儿方式维度是否可以调节这种关联。
我们使用了芬兰儿童睡眠出生队列研究的数据。在孩子 5 岁时（N=671）对父母和孩子进行了评估。屏幕时间的测量包括电视和其他设备上的节目观看。通过自我报告评估了孩子的心理社会问题以及父母的抑郁、压力和育儿方式维度。
儿童的高屏幕时间与 5 岁儿童的注意力和集中困难、多动和冲动症状以及内化和外化症状有关。尽管控制了父母的心理健康、育儿方式维度和多个背景因素，这些关联在大多数情况下仍然显著，特别是与注意力和集中困难以及多动症状相关的关联具有很强的稳健性。母亲的压力和抑郁会调节儿童屏幕时间与心理社会症状之间的关联，这表明压力大或抑郁的母亲之间的关联更为明显。
儿童的屏幕时间与心理社会症状之间存在独立的关联，而对于那些母亲心理健康状况较差的儿童，这种关联更为明显。在临床实践中，应该在儿童很小的时候就询问他们的屏幕时间，并为父母提供指导，以减少过度使用屏幕时间的可能不良影响，并帮助他们解决自身的心理健康问题。
