Link Between Adolescent Screen Time, Aggression and Emotional Problems: Study

Setting rules for how much screen time your child has each day can have long term benefits. Also consider screen time limits should be age appropriate. (Shutterstock)

Canadian researchers have found “weak but significant” associations between screen time and behavioural problems such as aggression, as well as emotional and mood disturbances in children after analysing 87 studies published from 1960 to 2021.

The team analysed 87 eligible studies from 595 articles, totalling over 159,000 participants aged 12 or younger and found that there is a relationship between adolescents’ screen time and exhibited externalised and internalised behavioural problems.

“Although the effect sizes (relationship strength) found in this study were small, the consequences of screen time at a population level are likely meaningful,” the authors led by Sheri Madigan wrote.

Externalising behavioural problems are exhibited in children’s outward behaviour by negatively acting on the external environment such as aggression, attention deficit, and hyperactivity. Whereas internalising behavioural problems affect mood and emotion such as anxiety and depression.

Overall, the team noted that the relationship, though significant, was comparable to the findings of other “meta-analyses on the association between screen time and child language skills and academic performance.”

But they did see that between behavioural and emotional problems, there was a stronger relationship between screen time and behavioural problems, particularly with aggression.

Boys especially had higher associations with externalising problems and screen time than girls.

The authors speculated that the stronger relationship between externalising problems and screen time may be due to children being exposed to inappropriate content such as violence and aggression during screen time.

“Children may become desensitised after repeated exposures and model aggressive or violent content toward others. Moreover, as screen time becomes more normalised, it is possible that aggressive behaviour within some screen programming does as well,” the author’s wrote.

Nonetheless, the team also reasoned that external problems may be easier to observe than internalising problems for researchers “leading to poorer sensitivity for identifying internalising problems.”

Additionally, older studies were found to generally show stronger relationships between behavioural problems and screen time with associations found decreasing “as study quality increased” and as studies get more recent.

This could be due to the decline effect; the tendency for scientific claims to receive less support over time and “as screens become normalised in childhood and contemporary culture, the risks associated with their use may become less consequential for children’s behaviour problems,” the authors speculated.

Nonetheless, the team also took into consideration that their study was only focussed on screen time broadly but did not examine “nuanced aspects of screen time.”

Other factors such as screen content, the context (passive viewing or co-viewing), and the purpose (educational or entertainment) can all limit the effects of their study.

Though the study excluded studies that took place during COVID-19 due to screen time and mental distress increasing during the pandemic, the team observed that “a cohort of children are growing up during the pandemic” with significant increases in screen time, suggestive of possible implications in development.

Dr. Lisa Mundy from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) told The Epoch Times in a statement that “it’s possible that children in the ’middle years’ may be particularly susceptible [to negative impacts] because they are heavily influenced by their peers and it is during these years that they develop a strong sense of self.”

She echoes Madigan and the co-authors’ concerns on the impacts of COVID-19 and screen time stating that “the debate about the impact of modern media on children’s development has never been more important” with studies showing children as young as six to 12 reporting at least a 50 percent increase in screen time during the pandemic and the possible negative impacts on physical and mental health as a result.

However Mundy noted that the most important “focus for parents, teachers and education systems should be on the type of media being used.”

If children are using it to create content, connect with us, and or contributing to discussion, then “this is likely to be associated with better outcomes.”

“There is some new research suggesting social media can be beneficial for school-aged children when it is educationally focused, is aligned with school work, and encourages collaborative learning.”

She said the COVID-19 pandemic has increased digital literacy within schools and “this offers an opportunity to utilise screen time within schools to support healthy learning and development,” with screen time providing “a positive role in education.”

“The challenge for educators is to promote the positive aspects, whilst actively minimising and mitigating the potential risks,” she said.