Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association of parental recreational screen media practices, including time use and level of smartphone addiction, with behavioral difficulties in 7-year-old children.
Methods: The study was based on cross-sectional data from the Odense Child Cohort, a community-based birth-cohort study. A total of 1152 parent-child dyads with complete data were included based on data from the 7-year examination conducted in 2018-21. Parental recreational screen use was self-reported as hours/day using the SCREENS-questionnaire, and their smartphone addiction was self-reported using the Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version. Child behavioral difficulties were assessed by the parent-reported version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
Results: Parental recreational screen time was not consistently associated with behavioral difficulty SDQ subscales and total difficulty scores when adjusted for other determinants of child mental well-being such as sociodemographic factors, parental well-being, and number of siblings. Children had higher total behavioral difficulty scores (adjusted mean difference 2.12 (95% CI, 1.19-3.05)) when comparing fourth quartile versus first quartile of maternal smartphone addiction score. Also, higher maternal smartphone addiction scores were associated with more externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems of their child (adjusted mean difference 1.61 points (95% CI, 0.95-2.27), and 0.81 points (95% CI, 0.19-1.43)) for fourth quartile versus first quartile, respectively.
Conclusions: No cross-sectional association was found between total parental recreational screen use and behavioral difficulties in their 7-year-old children, but an association between maternal obsessive smartphone use and behavioral difficulties of their children was found.
Keywords: children; cohort study; mental health; parents; screen time.
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