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Reciprocal Longitudinal Associations Between Adolescents' Media Consumption and Psychological Health
Tanja Poulain1, Mandy Vogel1, Juliane Ludwig2
1LIFE Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases (T Poulain, M Vogel, J Ludwig, N Grafe, A Körner, and W Kiess), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Women and Child Health (T Poulain, M Vogel, A Körner, and W Kiess), Hospital for Children and Adolescents and Center for Paediatric Research, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
Objective:
This study investigated reciprocal longitudinal associations between media use/physical activity and adolescents' psychological health.
Methods:
Data were collected between 2011 and 2017 in the LIFE Child study in Germany. The sample included 814 10- to 17-year-old adolescents. The participants provided information on their media use per day (hours of television/video, computer/Internet, and mobile phone use), physical activity (frequency of organized and non-organized physical activity per week), behavioral difficulties (emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems), and quality of life (physical and psychological well-being; satisfaction with parents, peers, and school) at 2 time points 12 months apart. Multiple regressions were applied to analyze reciprocal longitudinal associations between media use/physical activity and behavioral difficulties/quality of life.
Results:
Frequent use of computers/Internet at baseline was associated with an increase in internalizing behavioral difficulties (emotional problems and peer relationship problems) at follow-up. Additionally, a high frequency of computer/Internet and mobile phone use was related to a decrease in psychological well-being, whereas a high frequency of organized physical activity was linked to improved physical well-being. The analyses also revealed a link between more behavioral difficulties at baseline and increased television consumption at follow-up.
Conclusion:
This study suggests mutual dependencies between electronic media use and psychological health over time.
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