Is the Association Between Early Childhood Screen Media Use and Effortful Control Bidirectional? A Prospective Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Individual differences in effortful control, a component of temperament, reflecting the ability to use attention and other cognitive processes to self-regulate emotion and behavior, contribute to child academic adjustment, social competence, and wellbeing. Research has linked excessive screen time i...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.918834/full |
| _version_ | 1811333958221168640 |
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| author | Caroline Fitzpatrick Caroline Fitzpatrick Caroline Fitzpatrick Elizabeth Harvey Elizabeth Harvey Emma Cristini Emma Cristini Angélique Laurent Angélique Laurent Jean-Pascal Lemelin Jean-Pascal Lemelin Gabrielle Garon-Carrier Gabrielle Garon-Carrier |
| author_facet | Caroline Fitzpatrick Caroline Fitzpatrick Caroline Fitzpatrick Elizabeth Harvey Elizabeth Harvey Emma Cristini Emma Cristini Angélique Laurent Angélique Laurent Jean-Pascal Lemelin Jean-Pascal Lemelin Gabrielle Garon-Carrier Gabrielle Garon-Carrier |
| author_sort | Caroline Fitzpatrick |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Individual differences in effortful control, a component of temperament, reflecting the ability to use attention and other cognitive processes to self-regulate emotion and behavior, contribute to child academic adjustment, social competence, and wellbeing. Research has linked excessive screen time in early childhood to reduced self-regulation ability. Furthermore, research suggests that parents are more likely to use screens with children who have more challenging temperaments, such as low levels of effortful control. Since screen time by children between the ages of 0 and 18 has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains timely to investigate the developmental pattern of association between child screen media use and effortful control. We hypothesize that higher levels of screen media intake at age 3.5 will be associated with lower effortful control at age 4.5 and that lower effortful control at 3.5 will contribute to more screen media intake at age 4.5. This study draws on participants followed longitudinally over the span of 2-years for an investigation of Canadian preschoolers’ screen media use during the pandemic (N = 316, Wave 1). A follow-up with this sample was completed in 2021 (N = 265, Wave 2). Analyses using a cross-lagged panel model revealed stability in child screen time and effortful control between the ages of 3.5 and 4.5. Child screen time at age 3.5 significantly contributed to decreased effortful control scores at the age of 4.5, whereas effortful control at age 3.5 did not contribute to screen time at age 4.5. Our results partially confirmed our hypothesis and indicated that higher levels of screen time intake were detrimental to the development of effortful control. These results suggest that screen media use, an exceedingly frequent activity, may play an enduring role in development by shaping young children’s temperaments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T17:01:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a8fcd84e56c5465788a1db43cfcb459d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T17:01:36Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-a8fcd84e56c5465788a1db43cfcb459d2022-12-22T02:38:39ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-06-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.918834918834Is the Association Between Early Childhood Screen Media Use and Effortful Control Bidirectional? A Prospective Study During the COVID-19 PandemicCaroline Fitzpatrick0Caroline Fitzpatrick1Caroline Fitzpatrick2Elizabeth Harvey3Elizabeth Harvey4Emma Cristini5Emma Cristini6Angélique Laurent7Angélique Laurent8Jean-Pascal Lemelin9Jean-Pascal Lemelin10Gabrielle Garon-Carrier11Gabrielle Garon-Carrier12Faculty of Education, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaDepartment of Childhood Education, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South AfricaGroupe de Recherche et d’Intervention sur les Adaptations Sociales de l’Enfance, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaGroupe de Recherche et d’Intervention sur les Adaptations Sociales de l’Enfance, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaDepartment of Education, Université Sainte-Anne, Church Point, NS, CanadaFaculty of Education, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaGroupe de Recherche et d’Intervention sur les Adaptations Sociales de l’Enfance, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaFaculty of Education, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaGroupe de Recherche et d’Intervention sur les Adaptations Sociales de l’Enfance, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaFaculty of Education, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaGroupe de Recherche et d’Intervention sur les Adaptations Sociales de l’Enfance, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaFaculty of Education, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaGroupe de Recherche et d’Intervention sur les Adaptations Sociales de l’Enfance, Sherbrooke, QC, CanadaIndividual differences in effortful control, a component of temperament, reflecting the ability to use attention and other cognitive processes to self-regulate emotion and behavior, contribute to child academic adjustment, social competence, and wellbeing. Research has linked excessive screen time in early childhood to reduced self-regulation ability. Furthermore, research suggests that parents are more likely to use screens with children who have more challenging temperaments, such as low levels of effortful control. Since screen time by children between the ages of 0 and 18 has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains timely to investigate the developmental pattern of association between child screen media use and effortful control. We hypothesize that higher levels of screen media intake at age 3.5 will be associated with lower effortful control at age 4.5 and that lower effortful control at 3.5 will contribute to more screen media intake at age 4.5. This study draws on participants followed longitudinally over the span of 2-years for an investigation of Canadian preschoolers’ screen media use during the pandemic (N = 316, Wave 1). A follow-up with this sample was completed in 2021 (N = 265, Wave 2). Analyses using a cross-lagged panel model revealed stability in child screen time and effortful control between the ages of 3.5 and 4.5. Child screen time at age 3.5 significantly contributed to decreased effortful control scores at the age of 4.5, whereas effortful control at age 3.5 did not contribute to screen time at age 4.5. Our results partially confirmed our hypothesis and indicated that higher levels of screen time intake were detrimental to the development of effortful control. These results suggest that screen media use, an exceedingly frequent activity, may play an enduring role in development by shaping young children’s temperaments.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.918834/fullscreen mediascreen timeeffortful controlearly childhoodtemperamentfamily adversity |
| spellingShingle | Caroline Fitzpatrick Caroline Fitzpatrick Caroline Fitzpatrick Elizabeth Harvey Elizabeth Harvey Emma Cristini Emma Cristini Angélique Laurent Angélique Laurent Jean-Pascal Lemelin Jean-Pascal Lemelin Gabrielle Garon-Carrier Gabrielle Garon-Carrier Is the Association Between Early Childhood Screen Media Use and Effortful Control Bidirectional? A Prospective Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic Frontiers in Psychology screen media screen time effortful control early childhood temperament family adversity |
| title | Is the Association Between Early Childhood Screen Media Use and Effortful Control Bidirectional? A Prospective Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full | Is the Association Between Early Childhood Screen Media Use and Effortful Control Bidirectional? A Prospective Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Is the Association Between Early Childhood Screen Media Use and Effortful Control Bidirectional? A Prospective Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is the Association Between Early Childhood Screen Media Use and Effortful Control Bidirectional? A Prospective Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_short | Is the Association Between Early Childhood Screen Media Use and Effortful Control Bidirectional? A Prospective Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_sort | is the association between early childhood screen media use and effortful control bidirectional a prospective study during the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | screen media screen time effortful control early childhood temperament family adversity |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.918834/full |
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