Hayes Nicole, White Sonia L J, Berthelsen Donna, Burley Jade, Cliff Dylan
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, Brisbane, QLD, 4059, Australia.
School of Education, Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Level 4, E Block, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, QLD, 4059, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2025 May 2;25(1):1623. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-22866-2.
Screen-based devices have become a pervasive feature in the lives of young children. Understanding the ecological influences determining young children's screen use is imperative for promoting healthy screen habits. While individual studies have examined various factors influencing children's screen use across the early years, few studies have explored multiple ecological influences simultaneously. This research examines longitudinal associations between children's home environment, parent management practices and neighbourhood influences on children's screen time, through 4 to 7 years of age.
Analyses draw on data from 2485 children in the Infant Cohort of a nationally representative sample of children and families participating in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Bivariate and multiple linear regression models were developed to assess contributions of child, parenting, home and neighbourhood variables, measured at 4-5 years, in predicting children's daily screen time at 6-7 years.
Girls had lower screen time than boys at 6-7 years of age. Higher household socio-economic status, child participation in home learning activities and out-of-home extra-curricular activities, parenting consistency, and screen management practices including restricted bedroom access, presence and enforcement of screen rules, and parent-reported ease in managing screen time were also all significant predictors of lower daily screen time at age 6-7 years. Neighbourhood factors including liveability, sense of belonging and area-based socio-economic index were not significant predictors of children's screen time, after child, parenting and home factors were included in the model.
Providing guidance to families about building healthy screen practices from an early age should focus on parenting consistency and management of screen time, as well as responsiveness to engage children in other activities. Home routines on screen use, when consistently managed, can provide young children with opportunities to learn to self-regulate their own screen use behaviours from an early age and build healthy screen time habits.
基于屏幕的设备已成为幼儿生活中普遍存在的特征。了解决定幼儿屏幕使用的生态影响对于促进健康的屏幕使用习惯至关重要。虽然个别研究已经考察了早年影响儿童屏幕使用的各种因素，但很少有研究同时探讨多种生态影响。本研究通过对4至7岁儿童的跟踪调查，考察了儿童家庭环境、父母管理方式和邻里环境对儿童屏幕使用时间的纵向关联。
分析采用了参与澳大利亚儿童纵向研究（LSAC）的具有全国代表性的儿童和家庭样本中2485名婴儿队列儿童的数据。建立了双变量和多元线性回归模型，以评估4至5岁时测量的儿童、养育方式、家庭和邻里变量对预测6至7岁儿童每日屏幕使用时间的贡献。
6至7岁时，女孩的屏幕使用时间比男孩少。较高的家庭社会经济地位、儿童参与家庭学习活动和户外课外活动、养育方式的一致性，以及包括限制卧室使用屏幕、制定并执行屏幕使用规则以及家长报告的管理屏幕使用时间的轻松程度等屏幕管理方式，也是6至7岁时每日屏幕使用时间较短的显著预测因素。在模型中纳入儿童、养育方式和家庭因素后，包括宜居性、归属感和基于区域的社会经济指数在内的邻里因素并不是儿童屏幕使用时间的显著预测因素。
从小就为家庭提供有关建立健康屏幕使用习惯的指导应侧重于养育方式的一致性和屏幕使用时间的管理，以及鼓励儿童参与其他活动的响应能力。如果持续管理屏幕使用的家庭日常安排，可以为幼儿提供机会，让他们从小就学会自我调节自己的屏幕使用行为，并养成健康的屏幕使用时间习惯。
