Problematic Child Media Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Public Health
• Sociology

Background:

• The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic introduced significant family stressors.
• These stressors included structural challenges, social determinants of health inequities, and parental psychological distress.
• Understanding the impact of these stressors on child media use is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between family stressors and media rule implementation.
• To assess the association between family stressors and problematic child media use during the pandemic.
• To inform interventions addressing children's screen time behaviors.

Main Methods:

• A nationally representative survey of 1000 US parents with children aged 6-17 was conducted.
• Data were collected between October and November 2020.
• The survey assessed family stressors, media rule implementation, and problematic child media use.

Main Results:

• Problematic media use was higher in families with full-time employed parents (working from home), lower educational attainment, and greater parental psychological distress.
• A slight decrease in media rule implementation was observed during the pandemic.
• No significant association was found between media rule implementation and problematic media use.

Conclusions:

• Family stressors are significantly associated with problematic child media use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Interventions should address the role of structural and social determinants of health inequities in family stressors impacting media use.
• Support for parents is needed to manage children's screen time behaviors, especially those who developed problematic use during the pandemic.