Media Use and Child Sleep: The Impact of Content, Timing, and Environment

Abstract

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT:Media use has been shown to negatively affect child sleep, especially in the context of evening use or with a television in the child's bedroom. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:Increased sleep problems were observed in preschool-aged children for each additional hour of daytime violent media content or evening media use. No such effect was observed with nonviolent daytime use. abstract BACKGROUND: Media use has been shown to negatively affect a child's sleep, especially in the context of evening use or with a television in the child's bedroom. However, little is known about how content choices and adult co-use affect this relationship. OBJECTIVE:To describe the impact of media content, timing, and use behaviors on child sleep. METHODS:These data were collected in the baseline survey and media diary of a randomized controlled trial on media use in children aged 3 to 5 years. Sleep measures were derived from the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Media diaries captured time, content title, and co-use of television, video-game, and computer usage; titles were coded for ratings, violence, scariness, and pacing. Nested linear regression models were built to examine the impact of timing, content, and co-use on the sleep problem score. RESULTS:On average, children consumed 72.9 minutes of media screen time daily, with 14.1 minutes occurring after 7:00 PM. Eighteen percent of parents reported at least 1 sleep problem; children with a bedroom television consumed more media and were more likely to have a sleep problem. In regression models, each additional hour of evening media use was associated with a significant increase in the sleep problem score (0.743 [95% confidence interval: 0.373-1.114]), as was daytime use with violent content (0.398 [95% confidence interval: 0.121-0.676]). There was a trend toward greater impact of daytime violent use in the context of a bedroom television (P ϭ .098) and in low-income children (P ϭ .07). CONCLUSIONS:Violent content and evening media use were associated with increased sleep problems. However, no such effects were observed with nonviolent daytime media use. Pediatrics 2011;128:29-35 AUTHORS:

Media Use and Sleep Among Boys With Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, or Typical Development

“…61 An additional limitation of the current study is that we were unable to accurately assess the timing of screen-based media use. As a result, although we suspect that much of the reductions in total sleep time in the current study are related to nighttime (versus daytime) media use, similar to previous research, 62 we cannot definitively say that this is the case. Therefore, future studies in individuals with ASD or ADHD should include measures that better approximate prebedtime media exposure.…”

The Impact of a Healthy Media Use Intervention on Sleep in Preschool Children

“…In our previous article describing the relationship between media use and child sleep at baseline in this study, we found not only that evening media use was associated with increased sleep problems but so was violent media use earlier in the day. 2 If the intervention affected child sleep by reducing violent media consumption across the day, the effects may have been mediated by decreases in factors such as fears and state anxiety, 20 arousal state at bedtime, or hyperactivity.…”

“…Although this finding has been consistently replicated with high levels of use, bedtime use, and violent or frightening media content, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] effects have been observed across cultures and in all media formats (television, 6,[8][9][10] video games, [10][11][12] and computers 11,13,14 ) and across the age spectrum, including preschoolers, 2,7-9 school-aged children, 1,[3][4][5][6] and adolescents and adults. [13][14][15] Much of the existing research linking media use to child sleep problems has been crosssectional, however, raising the possibility that the causality is reversed; that is, that sleep problems are leading to increased media use, evening media use, and exposure to violent media content, rather than the other way around.…”

The Relationship Between Parents’ and Children’s Television Viewing

“…17 The American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendations to limit screen time are more than a decade old, but there has been limited success in reducing children' s TVV. 17 Understanding modifiable factors that contribute to TVV among youth is essential because excessive time spent viewing television is associated with unfavorable health and social outcomes in children and adolescents, including obesity, [18][19][20] poor sleep, 21 physical inactivity, 22 and poor academic achievement. 23 In the current study, we examined the effect of parental TVV on child TVV compared with household and bedroom television access, parental rules, and demographic variables in national parent samples.…”