Neighborhood disorder and infant screen time: Buffering effects of the PlayReadVIP parent-child program

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Environmental Health
• Public Health Interventions

Background:

• Neighborhood environment significantly influences children's screen time and subsequent development.
• Parent-child interventions are understudied for their potential to moderate neighborhood-development associations.
• Understanding these links is crucial for targeted early childhood support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between neighborhood disorder and infant screen time at 9 months.
• To determine if the PlayReadVIP intervention moderates the association between neighborhood disorder and infant screen time.
• To compare these effects across Black/African-American and White families in Flint, MI.

Main Methods:

• Utilized multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) path analyses.
• Included 399 families in the analyses.
• Assessed neighborhood disorder through both direct observation and parent reports.

Main Results:

• Observed neighborhood disorder predicted infant screen time across all participants (β=.19).
• Perceived neighborhood disorder significantly predicted infant screen time only in the Control group (β=.11).
• The PlayReadVIP intervention showed potential in attenuating the negative effects of neighborhood disorder.

Conclusions:

• Early parent-child programs may buffer the impact of neighborhood disorder on infant screen time.
• Interventions can potentially mitigate a range of risk factors affecting child development.
• Findings highlight the importance of addressing environmental influences on early development through targeted programs.