Keeping Kids Busy: Family Factors Associated with Hands-on Play and Screen Time During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Parent-child interactions are crucial for child development. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected mental health and increased parenting challenges impacting parent-child functioning. The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between parent factors and child activities to identify parental needs. A convenience sample of parents (N = 708), primarily mothers (n = 610; 87.4%) aged 35.59 years old (SD = 5.59; range = 21-72), with children ages 2-8 years completed an online questionnaire between April 14-June 1, 2020. Participants mostly resided in Canada and had an income of >$100,000. Parent-child activities were measured as total weekly time and combined time across activities within two categories: hands-on play and screen time. Bivariate correlations informed block-wise linear regression models. For families with childcare needs, parental anxiety was associated with higher total hands-on play (F(3,142) = 14.01, p < .001), combined hands-on play (F(2,85) = 6.82, p = .011), and combined screen time (F(2,82) = 6.25, p = .014). Families without childcare needs indicated parenting stress was associated with lower total hands-on play (F(3,212) = 7.95, p < .005) and combined hands-on play (F(2,110) = 5.67, p = .019), and higher supervised screen time (F(3,138) = 6.14, p = .014). Family structure and indices of socioeconomic status were also predictive of activities across childcare needs and child ages. To promote high-quality parent-child interactions and positive developmental outcomes in the pandemic, policy makers should support childcare needs, parent mental health and stress, and provide evidence-based guidelines for child screen time.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Societal Infection Control Measures on Children and Adolescents' Mental Health: A Scoping Review

“…Some of the studies discussed that feeling lonely and anxious motivated children and adolescents to use social media more often mainly to cope with the situation and with the lack of social contact; however, it resulted in even more negative feelings of anxiety, depression and loneliness ( 43 ). An aspect related to this that should be considered more generally is screen use ( 81 ). Excessive screen use is known to impact on sleep and physical activity ( 82 ) and has been linked with poorer language skills, lower school performance and classroom engagement, social/emotional difficulties, and reduced psychological well-being ( 81 ).…”

“…Excessive screen use is known to impact on sleep and physical activity ( 82 ) and has been linked with poorer language skills, lower school performance and classroom engagement, social/emotional difficulties, and reduced psychological well-being ( 81 ). Although screen media use among children and adolescents can be used with positive intentions, such as for education or to interact with friends and family and can award parents time to complete necessary tasks, it is an area of concern, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic ( 81 , 83 ). Research on online social network site (SNS) addiction, such as excessive and compulsive online social networking, is growing ( 84 ).…”

Play Behaviors in Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of the Literature

“…This review addressed an important factor in children's life during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, namely, children's play behaviors, providing valuable data regarding both children's indoor and outdoor activities. Various data from different regions of Europe and North America were retrieved, including 17 articles [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

“…Seventeen studies on the topic were identified. Among them, six studies were conducted in America (four in Canada [22][23][24][25], one in the USA [26], and one in Mexico [27]) and 11 were performed in Europe (five in Spain [28][29][30][31][32], two in Portugal [33,34], two in Ireland [35,36], one in the UK [37], and one in Poland [38]). Four of them had overlapping samples, but they have been included in Table 1 in the "overlapping studies" section" as they offered additional information regarding the issue examined in this paper.…”

“…Parents were also concerned about their children's play behaviors. More specifically, parents who needed childcare for their children experienced anxiety regarding hands-on play and screen time [25], while a Spanish study showed that having parents of foreign origin was negatively associated with physical activity time [30].…”