The role of different screen media devices, child dysregulation, and parent screen media use in children’s self-regulation.

Abstract

Higher television exposure has been repeatedly linked to poorer self-regulation among young children.Recent studies show use of mobile screen media devices is also negatively related to self-regulation in early childhood.Despite the proliferation of mobile devices in households with young children, it is unclear whether children's use of smartphones and tablets predicts their selfregulation independently of television use and parents' screen media use or when also considering evocative effects of children's dysregulation.This multi-method, cross-sectional study with a racially diverse sample (N = 72) in the western U.S. examines parents' (86.3% mothers) leisure media use and preschool-aged children's (M = 38.02months, 55.6% girls, 47.2% racial-ethnic minority) mobile media use, television use, and dysregulation as predictors of their behavioral battery-assessed self-regulation.As hypothesized, path models show the amounts of children's mobile media use, television use, and dysregulation negatively predict their self-regulation, and mobile media use is a stronger predictor than television use.We conclude with future directions to yield stronger inferences of screen media effects on child development that can inform interventions and screen time guidelines.