TITLE:
Screen Time and Children: The Relationship between Preschool Children’s Household Screen Media Experience and Executive Functioning
AUTHORS:
Yaxuan Hu, Bingbing Xing, Haijing Wang, Alishba Hania, Zhidan Wang
KEYWORDS:
Executive Functions, Screen Time, Preschool Children, Child Development, Family Education
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.6,
June
29,
2023
ABSTRACT: Technology is inescapable in homes with young children. The main goal of
this study is to investigate what aspects of children’s EF are influenced by
Household Screen Media Experience (HSME). A total of 1014 parents of 3- to
6-year-old children (M = 5.07, SD = 0.89, 497 females) were
recruited to participate in this study. The children’s screen media
experiences, including time management, life conflict, emotional experience,
and parental behavior, were assessed.
Children’s EF was assessed via the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive
Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P). For demographic information,
children’s age, gender, and SES information were collected. The results showed
that there was a significant positive correlation between HSME and children’s EF. Time control and emotional
experience predicted the Inhibitory
Self-Control Index (ISCI), the Flexibility Index (FI), and the Emergent
Metacognition Index (EMI), while parental behavior predicted the ISCI and EMI
and life conflict predicted the FI. In sum, the excessive use of screen media
during the preschool period was connected with negative outcomes for EF.
Different aspects of HSME moderated the influence of HSME on children’s EF.