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Screen time use impacts low-income preschool children's sleep quality, tiredness, and ability to fall asleep

Nicole A Waller1, Nanhua Zhang2, Adrienne H Cocci3

  • 1Early Childhood Health, National Kidney Foundation of Michigan, New Orleans, LA, USA.

Child: Care, Health and Development
|March 30, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Higher screen time in preschoolers is linked to poorer sleep quality, increased daytime tiredness, and difficulty falling asleep. These findings highlight the need for interventions to manage children's screen exposure for better sleep health.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Sleep Science
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Sleep is a critical component of overall health, particularly in children.
  • Previous research indicates a correlation between screen time and diminished sleep quality in pediatric populations.
  • Understanding these associations is crucial for developing targeted health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between screen time and sleep characteristics in low-income preschoolers.
  • To analyze how screen usage patterns affect sleep quality, daytime tiredness, and sleep onset in young children.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from 1,700 preschoolers across 50 preschool centers.
  • Parental reports on daily/weekly screen time, sleep quality, daytime tiredness, and sleep onset difficulties.
  • Mixed-effects linear regression models were employed to analyze the associations, controlling for demographic factors.

Main Results:

  • Increased screen time was significantly associated with greater difficulty falling/staying asleep, increased daytime tiredness, and poorer sleep quality (p < .001).
  • Black children reported higher weekly screen time compared to non-Black children (r=0.23, p < .001).
  • Daytime tiredness was linked to Black race, Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, and parental education levels.

Conclusions:

  • This study corroborates existing evidence linking screen time to adverse sleep outcomes in children.
  • Further research with objective measures of screen time, sleep, and physical activity is warranted.
  • Findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing children's screen time may positively impact sleep health and warrant investigation.
Abstract

Keywords:
childchild healthchild sleeplow-income familiespreschoolscreen time use

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