Screen Use and Mental Health Symptoms in Canadian Children and Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Published in: JAMA network open 2021-12, Vol.4 (12), p.e2140875-e2140875
• Main Authors: Li, Xuedi, Vanderloo, Leigh M, Keown-Stoneman, Charles D G, Cost, Katherine Tombeau, Charach, Alice, Maguire, Jonathon L, Monga, Suneeta, Crosbie, Jennifer, Burton, Christie, Anagnostou, Evdokia, Georgiades, Stelios, Nicolson, Rob, Kelley, Elizabeth, Ayub, Muhammad, Korczak, Daphne J, Birken, Catherine S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Anxiety; Anxiety - diagnosis; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - diagnosis; Child; Children & youth; Computer & video games; Conduct Disorder - diagnosis; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - psychology; Depression - diagnosis; Digital broadcasting; Digital media; Female; Humans; Hyperactivity; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mental depression; Mental health; Neurodevelopmental Disorders - diagnosis; Online Only; Ontario - epidemiology; Original Investigation; Pandemics; Pediatrics; SARS-CoV-2; Screen Time
• ISSN: 2574-3805; 2574-3805
• DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.40875

Longitudinal research on specific forms of electronic screen use and mental health symptoms in children and youth during COVID-19 is minimal. Understanding the association may help develop policies and interventions targeting specific screen activities to promote healthful screen use and mental health in children and youth. To determine whether specific forms of screen use (television [TV] or digital media, video games, electronic learning, and video-chatting time) were associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, conduct problems, irritability, hyperactivity, and inattention in children and youth during COVID-19. A longitudinal cohort study with repeated measures of exposures and outcomes was conducted in children and youth aged 2 to 18 years in Ontario, Canada, between May 2020 and April 2021 across 4 cohorts of children or youth: 2 community cohorts and 2 clinically referred cohorts. Parents were asked to complete repeated questionnaires about their children's health behaviors and mental health symptoms during COVID-19. The exposure variables were children's daily TV or digital media time, video game time, electronic-learning time, and video-chatting time. The mental health outcomes were parent-reported symptoms of child depression, anxiety, conduct problems and irritability, and hyperactivity/inattention using validated standardized tools. This study included 2026 children with 6648 observations. In younger children (mean [SD] age, 5.9 [2.5] years; 275 male participants [51.7%]), higher TV or digital media time was associated with higher levels of conduct problems (age 2-4 years: β, 0.22 [95% CI, 0.10-0.35]; P