A Systematic Review of Problematic Internet Use in Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Digital citizenship of children and youth with autism: Developing guidelines and strategies for caregivers and clinicians to support healthy use of screens

LAY ABSTRACT

Children and youth with autism use screens in their daily lives and in their rehabilitation programs. Although parents and clinicians experience specific challenges when supporting positive screen time use of children and youth with autism, no detailed information for this group exists. Therefore, this study aimed to develop clear guidelines that are agreed by expert clinicians and parents of children and youth with autism. Using a method called Delphi, 30 experts-20 clinicians and 10 caregivers, who have experience working with or caring for children and youth with autism were invited to complete a series of three surveys. In each round, the experts had to rate their agreement with statements regarding screen time management. The agreement level was set to 75%. The final themes to be included in the guidelines were accepted by more than 75% of the panel. The final guidelines included six main sections: (1) general principles, (2) considerations for timing and content of leisure screen time use, (3) strategies for caregivers and clinicians to monitor and regulate screen time use, (4) behaviors to monitor for screen time overuse, (5) additional guidelines for clinicians, and (6) resources. The new guidelines developed in this study can provide potential guidance on how to further the development of digital citizenship for children and youth with autism and provide strategies to families to help manage screen time use.

Longitudinal Investigations of Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Path Models Among Internet Use, Executive Function Problems, and Maternal Control in Young Korean Children

Excessive Internet use is related to behavioral and cognitive dysfunctions, but little is known about the relationship between them in young elementary school children. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between children's Internet use for entertainment purposes, executive function problems, and maternal control. Differences by children's Internet addiction status in their associations were also examined. Data from Wave 9 (2016) to Wave 11 (2018) of 1,463 children and mothers who participated in the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC) were used. The children's ages were 8 (grade 2), 9 (grade 3), and 10 years (grade 4) at Waves 9, 10, and 11, respectively. Associations between the variables were analyzed using autoregressive cross-lagged model estimations and multi-group analysis. The results showed the longitudinal stability of each of children's Internet use, executive function problems, and maternal control over the 3 years. Mutual associations between maternal control and children's Internet use were found especially in the low-risk group. In addition, children's executive function problems positively predicted Internet use, and negative associations from executive function problems to maternal control were significant over the years. However, some of these associations were significant only in the high-risk group. Discussions have focused on the protective role of maternal control and cognitive intervention, which could reduce children's excessive Internet use.