Youth screen use in the ABCD® study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience and developmental psychology
• Behavioral science
• Public health

Background:

• Adolescent screen usage is widespread and impacts development.
• Longitudinal data on screen time and problematic behaviors are crucial for understanding these impacts.
• The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study provides a unique dataset for this research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development of screen usage questionnaires in the ABCD Study.
• To analyze longitudinal changes in adolescent screen usage.
• To examine psychometric properties of social media and video game addiction scales and demographic differences in usage.

Main Methods:

• Development and psychometric analysis of screen usage questionnaires (SMAQ, VGAQ) in nearly 12,000 children (ages 9-10 at baseline).
• Longitudinal analysis of screen usage data from baseline to year 2.
• Comparison of usage patterns and addiction scores across sex and racial/ethnic groups.

Main Results:

• Video gaming and social media use increased significantly from ages 9/10 to 11/12.
• Girls reported higher social media use and addiction scores; boys reported higher video game use and addiction scores.
• Black youth showed significantly higher scores on both social media and video game addiction questionnaires compared to other groups.

Conclusions:

• Screen usage patterns differ significantly by sex and race/ethnicity.
• It is essential to differentiate between screen modalities (social media vs. video games) rather than focusing solely on total screen time.
• The ABCD Study data are valuable for investigating adolescent screen usage changes and associated behaviors.