The Differential Impact of Screen Time on Children’s Wellbeing

Sarahjane Belton, Johann Issartel, Stephen Behan, Hannah Goss and Cameron Peers
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Sarahjane Belton: School of Health and Human Performance, Dublin City University, D09 NA55 Dublin, Ireland
Johann Issartel: School of Health and Human Performance, Dublin City University, D09 NA55 Dublin, Ireland
Stephen Behan: School of Health and Human Performance, Dublin City University, D09 NA55 Dublin, Ireland
Hannah Goss: School of Health and Human Performance, Dublin City University, D09 NA55 Dublin, Ireland
Cameron Peers: Faculty of Science and Health, Dublin City University, D09 NA55 Dublin, Ireland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: Increased screen time has been found to be associated with a number of negative health and wellbeing indicators in youth populations. An increasing number of studies have investigated the association between screen time and wellbeing in adolescents, but evidence in younger children is still emerging. This 2017 study explored the effect of leisure screen time and gender on dimensions of wellbeing (measured using KIDSCREEN-27) in a national sample of 897 Irish primary school children aged 8–12 years. Participants had a mean age of 10.9 ± 1.16 years and were 47.7% female. Just over 30% of the sample accumulated 2 h or more of leisure screen time daily. Results show that there was no significant interaction between screen time category (<2 h/2 h + daily) and gender on overall wellbeing, while controlling for BMI. Children who self-reported <2 h of leisure screen time scored significantly higher on four dimensions of wellbeing: physical, parental, peers, and school, but not psychological. This study supports the growing evidence of the impact that leisure screen time has on health. Further longitudinal research investigating the impact of sub-categories of leisure screen time behaviour on wellbeing is warranted.

Keywords: leisure screen time; quality of life; health; wellbeing dimension; BMI; youth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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