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Brushe ME, Haag DG, Melhuish EC, Reilly S, Gregory T. Screen Time and Parent-Child Talk When Children Are Aged 12 to 36 Months. JAMA Pediatr 2024; 178:369-375. [PMID: 38436942 PMCID: PMC10913002 DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.6790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
Importance Growing up in a language-rich home environment is important for children's language development in the early years. The concept of "technoference" (technology-based interference) suggests that screen time may be interfering with opportunities for talk and interactions between parent and child; however, limited longitudinal evidence exists exploring this association. Objective To investigate the longitudinal association between screen time and 3 measures of parent-child talk (adult words, child vocalizations, and conversational turns) when children are 12 to 36 months of age. Design, Setting, and Participants This Australian prospective cohort study used advanced speech recognition technology to capture young children's screen time and home language environment, on an average 16-hour day. Data were collected from 220 families once every 6 months in the family home when children were 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months of age, from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021. Statistical analysis took place from November 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023. Exposure Language Environment Analysis (LENA) technology provided automated counts of children's language environment and exposure to electronic noise. The exposure of interest was screen time, which was calculated based on manual coding of LENA electronic noise audio segments. Main Outcomes and Measures Three measures of parent-child talk were outcomes of focus: adult words, child vocalizations, and conversational turns. Separate models were run for each of the 3 outcomes and included adjustment for child sex, child age, maternal educational level, number of children at home, number of home activities, and primary caregiver's psychological distress. Results The study included 220 families (120 girls [54.6%]; mean [SD] gestational age of children, 39.3 [1.5] weeks; mean [SD] age of mother at childbirth, 31.3 [4.8] years). Adjusted linear mixed-effect models demonstrated that increases in screen time were associated with decreases in measures of parent-child talk. The largest decreases were seen at 36 months, when an additional minute of screen time was associated with a reduction of 6.6 (95% CI, -11.7 to -1.5) adult words, 4.9 (95% CI, -6.1 to -3.7) child vocalizations, and 1.1 (95% CI, -1.4 to -0.8) conversational turns. Conclusion and Relevance Findings of this study support the notion of technoference for Australian families, whereby young children's exposure to screen time is interfering with opportunities to talk and interact in their home environment. This finding has implications for interventions and supports aimed at promoting a language-rich home environment, with families needing support in understanding the potential association of screen time with opportunities for children and adults to talk and interact in their home environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary E. Brushe
- Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Dandara G. Haag
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | | | - Sheena Reilly
- Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
| | - Tess Gregory
- Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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Brushe ME, Lynch JW, Melhuish E, Reilly S, Mittinty MN, Brinkman SA. Objectively measured infant and toddler screen time: Findings from a prospective study. SSM Popul Health 2023; 22:101395. [PMID: 37096246 PMCID: PMC10122061 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2022] [Revised: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective Screen time guidelines recommend no screens under two years due to the potential negative impacts on development. While current reports suggest many children exceed this, research relies on parent reports of their children's screen exposure. We objectively assess screen exposure during the first two years and how it differs by maternal education and gender. Methods This Australian prospective cohort study used speech recognition technology to understand young children's screen exposure over an average day. Data collection occurred every six months when children were 6, 12, 18 and, 24 months old (n = 207). The technology provided automated counts of children's exposure to electronic noise. Audio segments were then coded as screen exposure. Prevalence of screen exposure was quantified, and differences between demographics examined. Results At six months, children were exposed to an average of 1hr, 16 min (SD = 1hr, 36 min) of screens per day, increasing to an average of 2 h, 28 min (SD = 2 h, 4 min) by 24-months. Some children at six months were exposed to more than 3 h of screen time per day. Inequalities in exposure were evident as early as six months. Children from higher educated families were exposed to 1hr,43 min fewer screens per day, 95%CI (-2hr, 13 min, -1hr, 11 min) compared to lower educated households, with this difference remaining consistent as children age. Girls were exposed to an additional 12 min of screens 95%CI (-20 min, 44 min) per day compared to boys at six months, but this difference reduced to only 5 min by 24-months. Conclusion Using an objective measure of screen exposure, many families exceed screen time guidelines, the extent increasing with child's age. Furthermore, substantial differences between maternal education groups emerge as young as six months old. This highlights the need for education and supports for parents around screen use in the early years, balanced within the realities of modern life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary E. Brushe
- Telethon Kids Institute, Ground Floor, 108 North Terrace, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 4, Rundle Mall Plaza Building, 50 Rundle Mall, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Corresponding author. Telethon Kids Institute, Ground Floor 108 North Terrace, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia.
| | - John W. Lynch
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 4, Rundle Mall Plaza Building, 50 Rundle Mall, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Beacon House, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1QU, UK
| | - Edward Melhuish
- Menzies Health Institute Queensland, G40 Griffith Health Centre, Level 8.86 Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia
| | - Sheena Reilly
- Department of Education, University of Oxford, 15 Norham Gardens, Oxford, OX2 6PY, UK
| | - Murthy N. Mittinty
- College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Sturt Road, Bedford Park, SA, Australia
| | - Sally A. Brinkman
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 4, Rundle Mall Plaza Building, 50 Rundle Mall, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- Education Futures, University of South Australia, Campus Central – City West, SA, 5001, Australia
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Brushe ME, Islam T, Monroy NS, Sincovich A, Gregory T, Finlay-Jones A, Brinkman SA. Prevalence of electronic device use before bed among Australian children and adolescents: a cross-sectional population level study. Aust N Z J Public Health 2022; 46:286-291. [PMID: 35174930 DOI: 10.1111/1753-6405.13214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2021] [Revised: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To understand the prevalence of children and adolescents' electronic device use (EDU) in the hour before bed and identify sociodemographic groups that are at increased risk of problematic use. METHOD A contemporary population wide sample of South Australian school students aged 8-18 years (n = 70,936) was utilised to present descriptive statistics of EDU before bed across sociodemographic groups. Data was collected from the 2019 Wellbeing and Engagement Collection, an annual self-report census of students' health, wellbeing and school engagement. RESULTS 90% of children used an electronic device in the hour before bed at least one night a week, with 51% using a device every night. Older adolescent females in grades 10-12 were most frequent users and children from the most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities were also more likely to use electronic devices in the hour before bed. CONCLUSION EDU before bed is highly prevalent among Australian children and adolescents and given the negative health and educational impacts, it requires immediate and widespread action from policy makers to ensure the health of Australia's next generation. Implications for public health: The scale of the problem has now been identified; next steps rely on a public health approach to address this issue. This might include awareness raising campaigns and targeted interventions towards at-risk groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary E Brushe
- Telethon Kids Institute, the University of Western Australia, Level 7, 31 Flinders St., Adelaide, South Australia.,School of Public Health, the University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health and Medical Science Building, Adelaide, South Australia
| | - Tamina Islam
- Telethon Kids Institute, the University of Western Australia, Level 7, 31 Flinders St., Adelaide, South Australia
| | - Neida Sechague Monroy
- Telethon Kids Institute, the University of Western Australia, Level 7, 31 Flinders St., Adelaide, South Australia
| | - Alanna Sincovich
- Telethon Kids Institute, the University of Western Australia, Level 7, 31 Flinders St., Adelaide, South Australia.,School of Public Health, the University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health and Medical Science Building, Adelaide, South Australia
| | - Tess Gregory
- Telethon Kids Institute, the University of Western Australia, Level 7, 31 Flinders St., Adelaide, South Australia.,School of Public Health, the University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health and Medical Science Building, Adelaide, South Australia
| | - Amy Finlay-Jones
- Telethon Kids Institute, the University of Western Australia, Level 7, 31 Flinders St., Adelaide, South Australia
| | - Sally A Brinkman
- Telethon Kids Institute, the University of Western Australia, Level 7, 31 Flinders St., Adelaide, South Australia.,School of Public Health, the University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health and Medical Science Building, Adelaide, South Australia
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Brushe ME, Lynch J, Reilly S, Melhuish E, Mittinty MN, Brinkman SA. The education word gap emerges by 18 months: findings from an Australian prospective study. BMC Pediatr 2021; 21:247. [PMID: 34020609 PMCID: PMC8139043 DOI: 10.1186/s12887-021-02712-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The idea of the '30 million word gap' suggests families from more socioeconomically advantaged backgrounds engage in more verbal interactions with their child than disadvantaged families. Initial findings from the Language in Little Ones (LiLO) study up to 12 months showed no word gap between maternal education groups. METHODS Families with either high or low maternal education were purposively recruited into a five-year prospective study. We report results from the first three waves of LiLO when children were 6, 12 and 18 months old. Day-long audio recordings, obtained using the Language Environment Analysis software, provided counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. RESULTS By the time children were 18 months old all three measures of talk were 0.5 to 0.7 SD higher among families with more education, but with large variation within education groups. Changes in talk from 6 to 18 months highlighted that families from low educated backgrounds were decreasing the amount they spoke to their children (- 4219.54, 95% CI -6054.13, - 2384.95), compared to families from high educated backgrounds who remained relatively stable across this age period (- 369.13, 95% CI - 2344.57, 1606.30). CONCLUSIONS The socioeconomic word gap emerges between 12 and 18 months of age. Interventions to enhance maternal communication, child vocalisations and vocabulary development should begin prior to 18 months.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary E Brushe
- Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Level 15, 31 Flinders St, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia. .,School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health & Medical Science Building, 57 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.
| | - John Lynch
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health & Medical Science Building, 57 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.,Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, First Floor, 5 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, B28 1UD, UK
| | - Sheena Reilly
- Menzies Health Institute Queensland G40 Griffith Health Centre, Griffith University, Level 8.86 Gold Coast Campus, Southport, Queensland, 4222, Australia
| | - Edward Melhuish
- Department of Education, University of Oxford, 15 Norham Gardens, Oxford, OX2 6PY, UK
| | - Murthy N Mittinty
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health & Medical Science Building, 57 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia
| | - Sally A Brinkman
- Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Level 15, 31 Flinders St, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia.,School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health & Medical Science Building, 57 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia
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Brushe ME, Lynch JW, Reilly S, Melhuish E, Brinkman SA. How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life? BMC Pediatr 2020; 20:52. [PMID: 32013944 PMCID: PMC6996161 DOI: 10.1186/s12887-020-1946-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2019] [Accepted: 01/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, ‘30 million-word gap’. This study aims to investigate the number of words children hear and the number of vocalizations children produce in their first year of life and examines whether these aspects of the early language home environment differ by maternal education. Methods Mothers were recruited into a five-year prospective cohort study and categorized into either high or low maternal education groups. Data was derived from the first two waves of the study, when the children were six and twelve months old. At both waves, children were involved in day-long audio recordings using the Language Environment Analysis software that provided automatic counts of adult words spoken to the child, child vocalizations and conversational turns. Descriptive results are presented by maternal education groups. Results There was large variation within each maternal education group, with the number of adult words spoken to the child ranging from 2958 to 39,583 at six months and 4389 to 45,849 at twelve months. There were no meaningful differences between adult words, child vocalizations or conversational turns across maternal education groups at either wave of data collection. Conclusions These results show that a word gap related to maternal education is not apparent up to twelve months of age. The large variability among both maternal education groups suggests that universal interventions that encourage all parents to talk more to their child may be more appropriate than interventions targeted towards disadvantaged families during the first year of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary E Brushe
- Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australian, Level 15, 31 Flinders St, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia. .,School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health & Medical Science Building, 57 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.
| | - John W Lynch
- School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health & Medical Science Building, 57 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.,Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, First Floor, 5 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1UD, UK
| | - Sheena Reilly
- Menzies Health Institute Queensland G40 Griffith Health Centre, Griffith University, Level 8.86 Gold Coast Campus, Mount Gravatt, Queensland, 4222, Australia
| | - Edward Melhuish
- Department of Education, University of Oxford, 15 Norham Gardens, Oxford, OX2 6PY, UK
| | - Sally A Brinkman
- Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australian, Level 15, 31 Flinders St, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia.,School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health & Medical Science Building, 57 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia
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