'Small but significant' link between screen time and behavioural issues in children

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-03-17 02:00

International

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Children who spend more time in front of screens have a small but significant increase in risk of behavioural and mental health issues, according to an international systematic review and meta-analysis. The team analysed 87 Aussie and international studies looking for patterns in internalising symptoms (depression, anxiety) and externalising symptoms (aggression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder etc) and screen time. The researchers say these studies cannot prove the screen time causes these behavioural and mental health issues, and more research is needed to fully understand this link including more research into the type of content children are engaging in when they pick up the iPad.

Media release

From: JAMA

What The Study Did: This systematic review and meta-analysis of 87 studies including 159,000 children age 12 or younger assessed the association between the duration of screen time and externalizing (such as aggression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms) and internalizing (such as anxiety, depression) behavior problems.

Authors: Sheri Madigan, Ph.D., of the University of Calgary in Calgary, Canada, is the corresponding author.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Psychiatry

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Calgary, Canada

Funder: This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canada Research Chairs program.

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