Screen Time and Meeting Daily Health Recommendations in Children With and Without Autism

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Public Health

Background:

• Daily recreational screen time is a growing concern for children's health.
• Understanding screen time's impact on children with autism is crucial for targeted interventions.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides guidelines for physical activity, sleep, and healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) percentile.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare daily recreational screen time between children with and without autism.
• To investigate the association between exceeding 2 hours of daily screen time and adherence to CDC health recommendations.
• To analyze the relationship between screen time and physical activity, sleep duration, and BMI percentile in children aged 6-17.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of the 2020 National Survey of Children's Health.
• Categorized children into autism and neurotypical groups based on parental reports.
• Utilized descriptive statistics, chi-squared tests, and logistic regression, with weighted data adjusted for complex sampling.

Main Results:

• Children with autism (68.6%) had higher daily screen time (>2 hours) compared to neurotypical children (56.5%).
• Autistic children exceeding 2 hours of screen time were less likely to meet physical activity recommendations, particularly adolescents.
• Among younger autistic children (6-12 years), higher screen time was associated with a lower percentage having a BMI ≥85%ile.

Conclusions:

• Higher recreational screen time in children with autism is associated with poorer adherence to physical activity guidelines.
• Screen time's impact on health behaviors differs between autistic and neurotypical children.
• Findings suggest the need for tailored counseling regarding screen time habits for children with autism.