Young children's television viewing and the quality of their interactions with parents: A prospective community study

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of preschoolers: A parental guide

Unexpected changes brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have affected humans worldwide. This review attempts to address major parental concerns about the development of preschool-aged children during the pandemic from the perspectives of neuropsychology, consultation, and motor development for preschoolers aged 2–5 years.

Methods

A total of 273 articles including original data, review articles, national and regional perspectives, government websites, and commentaries were considered in this review, of which 117 manuscripts were excluded because they were unrelated to children, adolescents, or COVID -19 pandemic/upper respiratory infections. A total of 156 manuscripts were included after reading the abstract and entire article.

Results

Telehealth could be an effective tool for addressing cognitive and emotional challenges that arise during the pandemic. Online consultations are highlighted for nutritional guidelines and to overcome problems that parents face when caring for children in difficult times. Outdoor activities using sanitisers, proper cleanliness, and following standard operating procedures are recommended. Parental preoccupation with media should be avoided. Interpretation: Many preschoolers show delays in reaching their developmental milestones, and the pandemic has increased parents' concerns, as access to practitioners is limited. Therefore, parents should be encouraged to undergo neuropsychological consultations whenever necessary. This study emphasises important strategies to ensure that children's development is minimally affected while staying in the confined environment of their homes. This study serves as a new guide for parents, as they raise young children in the new normal. Parents should undergo basic yearly physical, neuropsychological, nutritional, and speech checkups.

Measurement of screen time among young children aged 0-6 years: A systematic review

The impact of screen-based devices on children's health and development cannot be properly understood without valid and reliable tools that measure screen time within the evolving digital landscape. This review aimed to summarize characteristics of measurement tools used to assess screen time in young children; evaluate reporting of psychometric properties; and examine time trends related to measurement and reporting of screen time. A systematic review of articles published in English across three databases from January 2009 to April 2020 was undertaken using PROSPERO protocol (registration: CRD42019132599) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Included articles measured screen time as outcome, exposure, or confounder in children 0-6 years. The search identified 35,868 records, 1035 full-text articles were screened for eligibility, and 622 met inclusion criteria. Most measures (60%) consisted of one to three items and assessed duration of screen time on a usual day. Few measures assessed content (11%) or coviewing (7%). Only 40% of articles provided a citation for the measure, and only 69 (11%) reported psychometric properties-reliability n = 58, validity n = 19, reliability and validity n = 8. Between 2009 and 2019, the number of published articles increased from 28 to 71. From 2015, there was a notable increase in the proportion of articles published each year that assessed exposure to mobile devices in addition to television. The increasing number of published articles reflects increasing interest in screen time exposure among young children. Measures of screen time have generally evolved to reflect children's contemporary digital landscape; however, the psychometric properties of measurement tools are rarely reported. There is a need for improved measures and reporting to capture the complexity of children's screen time exposures.

Influence of technology usage on family communication patterns and functioning: A systematic review

The upsurge of technological advancement and the introduction of the internet has impacted face to face communication.

BACKGROUND

The advances in this field have gained much interest in implying increased technology usage on various psychosocial factors, mainly mental health and changing communication patterns in the family system.

METHODOLOGY

This paper provides a systematic review of the literature published between 1990-2020, examining the relationship between technology usage and its impact on family factors like communication and family relationships.

RESULTS

A database search was conducted using certain keywords, and in total, 20 papers were selected according to inclusion criteria. The results are categorized into domains of 1) technology use of the family, 2) family communication 3) family bonding 4) rules for technology use 5) boundaries maintained by the family members related to technology use.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that technology usage in families is very high, and maximum daily communication happens through technology. Family leisure time, offline family bonding and communication is negatively affected due to technology use. A model was developed which has implications in the family psychiatry field and specifically in working with families having difficulties managing healthy use of technology.

The Relationships between Screen Use and Health Indicators among Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Evidence suggests that excessive screen time in early childhood is related to children's physical and mental health. This study aimed to review the relationships between screen media use and several health indicators in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. A systematic search was conducted by two independent reviewers on PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library to identify the eligible studies, with an end date of 13 August 2019. Included studies (published in English) were peer-reviewed and met the determinate population (children aged 0-7 years with screen media exposure and related health outcomes). The AHRQ, NOS, and the Cochrane Handbook were used to evaluate the cross-sectional study, cohort study, and RCT, respectively. A meta-analysis and narrative syntheses were employed separately. Eighty studies (23 studies for meta-analysis) met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Strong evidence of the meta-analysis suggested that excessive screen time was associated with overweight/obesity and shorter sleep duration among toddlers and preschoolers. Excessive screen use was associated with various health indicators in physical, behavioral, and psychosocial aspects. Better-quality research on newer media devices, on various kinds of contents in young children, and on dose-response relationships between excessive screen use and health indicators are needed to update recommendations of screen use.

Influence of Mothers/Grandmothers Coviewing Cartoons With Children on Children's Viewing Experience

Watching cartoons is one important event in children’s early lives. This activity is highly influential on many factors, such as children’s cognitive and behavioral development. Some researchers believe that parents should coview cartoons with children to help them filter and distinguish useful content. However, intergenerational education is already common in China, and the influence of grandparents cannot be ignored. Because they are in different stages of life, the members of these two generations manifest great differences in parenting style, which may lead to differences in child development. Does this generational difference have differential effects on the children’s cartoon-viewing experience? We recruited 89 parents and grandparents and their kindergarten-aged children (approximately 5 years old) to participate in the study. The mothers or grandmothers were asked to coview a cartoon for approximately 7 min with their child, after which the child was asked questions about the cartoon-viewing experience. The results show the following: (1) compared with grandmothers, mothers generally think that cartoons have a very high influence on children’s physical and mental health (χ² = 8.83, p < 0.05), (2) mothers place more restrictions on the content of cartoons that their children view, whereas grandmothers’ attitudes are characterized by greater tolerance (χ² = 11.94, p < 0.01), and (3) in the case of coviewing with mothers, when the children are asked “why” questions about the cartoon-viewing experience questionnaire, they use more experience proofs to explain their answers than when they coview with grandmothers (χ² = 16.69, p < 0.01; χ² = 10.44, p < 0.05).

The Effect of Screen Viewing Duration and Self-Efficacy in Limiting Screen Viewing on Loneliness in Adolescent-Parent Dyads: An Application of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

PURPOSE

To examine the influence of parents' screen viewing (SV) duration and self-efficacy in limiting SV on their adolescents' loneliness, and to explore the influence of adolescents' SV duration and self-efficacy in limiting SV on parents' loneliness.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A cross-sectional survey with 1573 adolescent-parent dyads from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating Study were included in this study. The actor-partner interdependence models were used to examine the effect of each dyadic partner's SV duration and self-efficacy in limiting SV on their own and their dyadic partner's loneliness within adolescent-parent dyads.

RESULTS

There were no significant actor and partner effects of SV duration on loneliness for both parents and adolescents (all p_s > 0.05). Adolescents' self-efficacy in limiting SV was associated with less loneliness of their own (adolescents' actor effect: β = -0.35, SE = 0.04, p < .01) and that of their parents (adolescents' partner effect: β = -0.15, SE = 0.04, p = .001). Parents' self-efficacy in limiting SV was negatively associated with their own loneliness (parents' actor effect: β = -0.25, SE = 0.05, p < .01), but not with their adolescents' loneliness (parents' partner effect: β = -0.06, SE = 0.05, p = .189).

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents' own self-efficacy in limiting SV has a significant impact on their parents' loneliness. Parents' self-efficacy in limiting SV, however, did not influence their adolescents' loneliness.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Our results highlight the importance of providers screening for loneliness as part of the plan of care for adolescents and parents who might have excessive SV, with close attention given to those who possess less self-efficacy in controlling their SV.