The DAGIS study indicates that children with better effortful control spend less time in front of the screen. Practicing and learning self-regulation skills could be an effective way to reduce screen time among children.
The time spent in front of a screen increases among young children, and screen time is strongly associated with several negative health factors such as overweight, stress and depression. The DAGIS study at the Folkhälsan Research Center investigated the relationship between temperament, long-term stress and screen time among Finnish preschool children and how socio-economic status affects that dynamic.
A total of 779 children and their parents participated in the study. Long-term stress was measured through samples of the hair's cortisol values from the last two months, temperament via the standardized CBQ-VSF questionnaire (Children's Behavior Questionnaire [Very Short Form]), and the children's screen time was assessed via the parents' reporting from the past seven days. Socio-economic status was represented by the highest level of education in the household.
– Our habits begin to take form at an early age, and this study gives the insight that children have different temperaments and this emphasizes each child's individuality. The insight that every child has different starting points and needs is important in early childhood education, says Marja Leppänen, postdoctoral researcher in the DAGIS study at the FHRC. Leppänen is a physiotherapist by trade and has since received a doctorate in health sciences.
The results of the present study indicate that children with better effortful control spend less time in front of the screen. Effortful control is characterized by inhibitory control, attentional focus, low-intensity pleasure, and perceptual sensitivity. The expression of effortful control is in essence self-regulation. Practicing and learning self-regulation skills may thus be an effective way to reduce screen time among children.
Usually, screen time is divided into different categories such as TV viewing, computer, smartphone and tablet use. The fact that screen time has increased exponentially throughout the 2000’s is considered worrying, since there is a clear connection between increased screen time and negative health indicators, such as overweight and depression.
According to the recommendations, the screen time should be limited to 60 minutes per day for 2-5-year-olds, but in reality, only a fraction of the children go below the recommendation. Given that many habits that one carries throughout life, including health habits, are formed during early childhood, it is imperative to have knowledge of the influencing factors.
In this study, screen time was assessed via self-reporting. In other words, it was the parents' responsibility to write down how many minutes a day the child sat at a screen and at what kind of screen. The screen time information was then reported to the researchers.
– For future research, it would also be important to distinguish between what the screen time was used for - has the child passively watched TV programs or actively played a game on the tablet? Furthermore, we are also interested in what time of day the screens are used, as well as whether different times for screen time are related to stress, says Leppänen.
Stress is our physiological and mental reactions to taxing stimuli of various kinds. When we talk about stress, it is often about mental overexertion and feelings of lack of time, insecurity and inadequacy. Prolonged stress can result in severe fatigue symptoms. In other words, we get stressed when there is a lot going on around us that we cannot handle or feel out of control.
Previously, stress was considered to be something that mainly belongs to adulthood, but research has shown that even young children experience increasing degrees of stress. The problem here is that young children cannot express their stress experience in words in the same way as adults might. Thus, the stress hormone cortisol is used to measure stress levels in children.
– Cortisol can be used as an indicator of stress levels, and hair cortisol measurement is a promising way to assess cortisol levels since its pain free and non-invasive, Leppänen concludes.
The human psyche is considered to be a product of both hereditary factors and environmental factors. Within the field of psychology, temperament is considered to be the part of our personality that we are born with and that does not change much over time. Thus, temperament lays the foundation for how we react to and interact with our surroundings and the social sphere.
The usual way to assess temperament is via questionnaires and when it comes to children's temperaments, the CBQ form is used. The CBQ was developed by developmental psychologists Samuel Putnam and Mary Rothbart to assess temperament among children aged 3–6 years and the form is filled in by the child's guardian or parents.
– Measuring temperament is complicated. CBQ is an indirect representation of temperament and furthermore, it is the parents themselves who answer the questionnaire about their children and they might have varying interpretations of their children’s temperament characteristics. This can affect the results. At the same time, the CBQ-temperament results have connection with the child's behavior and the CBQ is thus a relatively reliable instrument in this type of study, says Leppänen.
Within the CBQ, temperament is divided into three main dimensions: surgency, negative affectivity and effortful control. Surgency is how much the child enjoys high-intensity stimulating situations and comfortably the child handles social situations. Children with high negative affectivity typically have a worse mood, are more reserved and difficult to comfort. Effortful control is the ability to self-inhibit impulses according to social norms, self-regulate one's emotions, and control one's attention and focus.
Socio-economic status (SES) is an individual's or family's economic and social positioning in relation to others. This actually means income, work and degree of education. Previous studies have shown that children in families with higher SES have less screen time, and SES is often associated with outcomes in several significant life-style factors. In this study, the family's highest level of education was used as an indicator of SES.
In the DAGIS study, the SES was compared with the screen time reports and the children's temperament profiles. It turned out that children from families with higher or medium SES showed less negative affectivity as temperament traits compared to low SES, but that SES was not associated with any of the other temperament dimensions. Also, low SES was associated with more screen time compared to high SES. The screen time and long-term stress also did not have any significant connection in this study. On the other hand, children with higher temperament scores in effortful control had significantly less daily screen time.
– One of the most important lessons from this study is that children have different temperaments and thus different needs. Knowing the child's temperament, tendencies and needs can give us pedagogical tools in the development of early childhood education and supervision, says Leppänen.
As more screen time seems to be associated with poorer health in the form of overweight, depressive symptoms and reduced sleep quality, this is an important research area in psychology, medicine and health promotion in general. This study indicates that the temperament dimension of effortful control is important when it comes to screen time behavior in children. At the same time, self-regulation is also a trait that can be practiced. It gives us tools when we plan interventions or methods to reduce screen time among children.
The whole study can be read in full text here.
Simon Granroth, Science Communicator
