Effects Of Screen Exposure On Early Childhood Development

Obejective Excessive screen exposure of children remains a global concern.However,the effects of screen exposure on early child development have not yet drawn a conclusion.The aim of this study is to:(1)reveal the screen exposure status of preschool children in Shanghai by conducting large-scale population epidemiological studies;(2)explore the impact of screen exposure on preschool children's cognitive and psychological development;and;(3)establish cohort study to analyze the impact of early life screen exposure on psycological developemnt,cognitive function and language development of infants and young children.Method This study was carried out in two stages: 1)A cross-sectional study was carried out in 167,597 3-4 years old preschool children in 2016.Participants were selected by stratified random cluster sampling and screen exposure,early child development and mental health status,and other characteristic was investigated.2)A total of 262 maternal and neonatal cohorts were established.Screen time,cognitive and non-cognitive development in children's growth,and mothers' status during the pregnancy was collected.Result The average screen time for preschoolers in Shanghai was 170.2(95% CI:167.4,173.0)min / day,and 78.6%(95% CI:77.8,79.3)% of children had an average screen time of more than one hour per day.Boys,low maternal education level,low family income,non-single children,divorced family and father as primary caregiver are risk factors for children's screen time.With the increase of screen time,children have an increased risk of early development delay and psychological problems.Parent-child interaction is the most important mediator.Screen time of infants and toddlers in Shanghai increased gradually with age.According to their trajectory of screen time,the children can be divided into slow-growth group and rapid growth group.Mother's screen time during pregnancy is a main predictor of children's screen time.In cognitive development,children with rapid growth of screen time had a significantly lower score on reasoning(107.1 ± 10.6) and language expression(98.7 ± 10.2)at their 4 years of age,compared to reasoning(113.5 ± 12.5) and language expression(104.1 ± 12.3) of children in slow-growth group of screen exposure(P <0.05).Compared to children with slow growth of screen time,children with rapid growth of screen time undertook a higher risk of having pro-social behavioral problem by 3.0(95% CI: 1.3,6.5) times,and having conduct problem by 2.4(95% CI: 1.1,5.3) times at their 3 years of age.Conclusion This study found that increased screen time lead to a higher risk of early childhood development delay and psychological problems.Parent-child interaction is the most important mediators accounting for these associations.Parental coviewing and communication with children about the screen content is a protective factor of children's cognitive development and psychological well-being.Parents should be reminded aboutthe harm of excessive sceen time on children's development,and it it also urgent to increase their awareness of the importance of parent-child interaction.