About this srcd poster session

---

Panel information
Panel 24. Technology, Media & Child Development

Abstract

---

Strong evidence suggests that early child socioemotional difficulties give rise to later language development problems (Petersen et al., 2013) and that language difficulties anticipate later socioemotional adjustment challenges (Ketelaars et al., 2008). Little is known, however, about factors that exacerbate these associations. The present study builds on findings that point to the home learning environment as factor that amplifies and mitigates longitudinal associations between language and socioemotional development (e.g., Laursen et al., 2022). We focus on child solitary screen time as a moderator, given findings that link unsupervised television watching to delays in language acquisition and cognitive development (e.g., Massaroni et al., 2023) and socioemotional problems (Liu et al., 2021).

Participants included 371 children (170 girls, 201 boys), ages 4-5, from 50 classrooms in 24 Danish public childcare centers. Participants were drawn from the control groups of two childcare interventions (Bleses et al., 2018). All participating parents were fluent in Danish.

Teachers administered standardized language assessments (Højen et al., 2022) at two time points, 6 months apart. Here, we focus on productive vocabulary [e.g, What is this? (a picture of an octopus)]. Teachers also completed surveys (Goodman, 1997) describing the child’s socioemotional adjustment in two domains: conduct problems (e.g., fights a lot), and emotional problems (e.g., “has many fears, is easily scared”). Finally, parents completed a home learning environment inventory (Bleses et al., 2014) that included a measure of the child’s solitary screen time (e.g., How often does your child watch TV alone?).

Bidirectional longitudinal associations emerged between productive vocabulary and socioemotional adjustment (see Figure 1). Lower initial productive vocabulary predicted greater subsequent increases in emotional problems and conduct problems. Higher initial conduct problems (but not emotional problems) predicted smaller subsequent increases in productive vocabulary. Solitary screen time predicted increases in emotional problems and was marginally (p=.08) associated with increases in conduct problems and productive vocabulary. There were statistically significant moderated associations from the Time 1 productive vocabulary x solitary screen time interaction term to Time 2 emotional problems and Time 2 conduct problems. Figure 2 depicts the results. Lower initial productive vocabulary predicted greater subsequent emotional problems and conduct problems, but only for children high in solitary screen time. Solitary screen time did not moderate associations from initial socioemotional adjustment to subsequent productive vocabulary.

Public health officials are increasingly warning against screen time consumption by young children (U.S Surgeon General, 2023). Our study adds to the growing body of literature that underscores these risks. Not only was unsupervised, solitary screen time directly tied to later adjustment difficulties, it amplified downstream conduct and emotional problems that typically accompany poor language skills. In the face of widespread availability and allure of screen technology, it’s important for parents, teachers/educators and practitioners to appreciate the consequences of unsupervised screen time. Unfortunately, adults often seek to assuage the problems presented by poorly adjusted children with screen technology (McDaniel, 2019). Limiting and supervising screen time during early childhood is a global public health concern, particularly for children who are at risk for cascading adjustment difficulties.

Author information

Author	Role
Molly Selover, Florida Atlantic University	Presenting author
Fabio Trecca, Aarhus University	Non-presenting author
Anders Højen, Aarhus University	Non-presenting author
Dorthe Bleses, Aarhus University	Non-presenting author
Brett Laursen, Florida Atlantic University	Non-presenting author

⇦ Back to session