Understanding the relationship between mothers’ attitudes toward television and children’s television exposure: A longitudinal study of reciprocal patterns and the moderating role of maternal stress

This two-wave panel study among mothers (N = 508) of children between ages six months and six years investigated a) the possibility of a reciprocal relationship between mothers’ attitudes toward television and children’s television viewing, and b) the conditional probability of this reciprocal relationship. Two-wave multigroup cross-lagged analyses provided evidence for reciprocal patterns that depend on the level of maternal stress. The findings indicated that mothers’ attitudes toward television predicted children’s subsequent television viewing among non-stressed mothers, but not among stressed mothers. Children’s television viewing predicted mothers’ subsequent negative attitudes toward television among stressed mothers, but not among non-stressed mothers. Implications for the role of parents’ attitudes regarding children’s television viewing are discussed

The relation between use of mobile electronic devices and bedtime restistance, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness among preschoolers

This study investigated the relation between preschoolers’ mobile electronic device (MED) use and sleep disturbances. A national sample of 402 predominantly college-educated and Caucasian mothers of 3–5-year-olds completed a survey assessing their preschoolers’ MED use, bedtime resistance, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness. Heavier evening and daily tablet use (and to some extent, smartphone use) were related to sleep disturbances. Other forms of MED use were not consistently related to sleep disturbances. In addition, playing games on MEDs at bedtime was related to compromised sleep duration, although other forms of MED use at bedtime were not related to sleep outcomes. Although the relations between MED use and sleep disturbances were small in size, they were larger than the relations between sleep and other predictors in the models. Continued work should investigate how MED exposure is related to children’s cognitive, psychological, emotional, and physiological development, particularly given the popularity and widespread use of these devices

Electronic Media Use and Sleep Among Preschoolers: Evidence for Time-Shifted and Less Consolidated Sleep

This study examined the association between electronic media use and sleep among preschoolers, using a national sample of 402 mothers of 3- to 5-year-olds. Participants completed an online survey assessing preschoolers’ electronic media use, bedtime and wake time, sleep time, napping behaviors, and sleep consolidation. Results showed that heavier television use and tablet use, both overall and in the evening, were associated with later bedtimes and later wake times, but not with fewer hours of sleep, providing evidence for a time-shifting process. In addition, heavier daily television use and evening smartphone use were associated with increased daytime napping. Moreover, heavier daily television use, daily and evening smartphone use, and evening tablet use were associated with poorer sleep consolidation, suggesting less mature sleep patterns. These findings indicate that media effects on the timing of sleep and the proportion of sleep that occurs at night are important to consider when assessing the health risks of electronic media on children

The role of sleep in the relation between young children’s mobile media use and effortful control

We explored the relations among young children's mobile media use, sleep, and a form of self‐regulation, temperamental effortful control (EC), among a national sample of 402 mothers who completed an online survey. We found that the relation between mobile media use and EC was moderated by children's sleep time. Tablet use was negatively related to EC only among children who slept less at night (40% of our sample). However, hand‐held game player use was positively related to EC among children who slept longer at night (60% of our sample). In addition, sleep quality was a mediator in the relation between evening tablet use and EC. Evening use related to later bedtimes, more bedtime resistance, and worse sleep duration, and these indicators of poor sleep quality, in turn, predicted weaker EC