Parental rules and child age as moderators in the relationship between screen time and perceived sleep problems in children aged 6–18

• Published in: The educational and developmental psychologist 2025-01, Vol.42 (1), p.1-10
• Main Authors: Tang, Lihua, McLean, Louise, May, Fiona, Matthews, Jan, Sartore, Gina-Maree, Kienhuis, Mandy, Wade, Catherine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age groups; Children & youth; Screen time; Sleep
• ISSN: 2059-0776; 2059-0784
• DOI: 10.1080/20590776.2024.2431481

ObjectiveChild sleep problems are commonly reported by parents of children aged 6–18 years, with a growing body of evidence describing the link between children’s screen time and parental perceived child sleep problems. Using cross-sectional data, representative of the Victorian population, this study explored whether the relationship between screen time and parental perceived sleep problems differed across child age groups. It also examined whether parental rules moderated this relationship differentially between primary school-aged children and adolescents.MethodParticipants were 1699 parents living in Victoria with children aged 6 to 18 years who were recruited to complete a computer assisted personal communication through random dialling of mobile and landline numbers.ResultsResults indicated that more screen time was associated with more parental perceived sleep problems, with parental rules moderating this relationship for primary school-aged children but not for adolescents. Contrary to expectations, the relationship between screen time and parental perceived sleep problems did not differ across child age groups.ConclusionsResults suggest that parental rules on media device use may be an instrumental factor in the development of successful intervention programmes for primary school-aged children. Further implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.