Examining Complex Transactional Associations among Family Media Use, Caregiver-Child Interactions, and Behavioral Functioning in At-Risk Young Children

Project Summary Digital technology and screen media have become increasingly ubiquitous in the lives of young children, fueling urgent calls for better understanding how screen media use impacts child development and mental health. Emerging research has suggested associations between child media use and child emotional and

behavioral difficulties, including problems with attention, self-regulation, and disruptive behavior, and some evidence further suggests that early behavioral functioning may also predict later screen media use. However, the nature of the association between early screen media use and child emotional and behavioral functioning

remains under debate due to inconsistent findings, limited availability of robust long-term studies, and a lack of understanding regarding the underlying mechanisms driving these effects. Additionally, much of the existing research on early screen media use and child development has been limited to considering only a child's

overall exposure to screen media (i.e., duration of screen media use), disregarding crucial contextual factors, such as, content, purpose, and caregiver media use, that are essential for clarifying how early screen media use impacts (and is impacted by) young children's emotional and behavioral functioning. To address these

gaps, we propose to follow an existing cohort of 200 children and their caregivers, who were previously enrolled in an NICHD-funded randomized trial for infants at-risk for externalizing behavior problems. The primary aims of this R01 application are to investigate transactional associations between characteristics of

family media use and developmental trajectories of early child emotional and behavioral functioning, and to investigate caregiver-child interactions, parenting, and caregiver distress as key mechanisms of these associations. Measures of parenting, caregiver-child interactions, and child functioning, as well as screen

media use, were administered in the prior trial when children were 1-2-years old. We propose to follow these caregiver-child dyads yearly from age 3-years to kindergarten entry (age 5-years). Specifically, we will examine family screen media use (including duration of parent and child media use, content, purposes of use, co-use),

caregiver-child interactions, child behavior and self-regulation, and caregiver wellbeing at each time point via robust, noninvasive, and validated means. Using growth curve modeling, we will investigate 1) transactional associations between family media use and child self-regulation and behavior, 2) longitudinal associations

between family media use and caregiver-child interactions, and whether a brief parenting intervention moderates these associations, and 3) caregiver-child interactions and caregiver distress as mediators. The proposed study responds to NICHD priorities to investigate impacts of early exposure to technology and digital

media on caregiver-child interactions and child outcomes, and the results of the proposed research will help inform healthy family media use guidelines and interventions that are relevant to modern digital age.