P4.052: Association Between Primary Caregiver's Health and Screen Time of Children

Background: Increased screen time negatively impacts children’s physical, mental and behavioral health. Parents with poor health may struggle to manage caregiving responsibilities, including regulating children’s screen time. A 2017 study by Downing et. al. in Melbourne, Australia found no association between the parents’ health and children’s screen time, and no studies have examined this relationship in the USA. Our study aims to assess the association between the health of the primary caregiver and the screen time of children aged 0-17 years in the USA.

Methods: Data from the 2022 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) dataset (n=54,103) was analyzed. The data about the health of the primary caregiver (biological, foster, adopted or step father/mother) reported as ‘excellent, very good or good’ was classified as ‘good’. The primary caregiver’s health reported as ‘fair or poor’ was classified as ‘poor’. Screen time of the children was divided into 2 categories: low ( < 2 hours/day) and high (≥2 hours/day). The primary outcome was the association between primary caregiver’s health (physical and mental) and children’s screen time. The secondary outcome was the association between the children’s screen time and additional factors including children’s age, sex and household income. Both outcomes were analyzed using the chi-square test. Prevalence ratio was used to compare high versus low screen time.

Results: Children with mothers with poor physical health were 1.58 times more likely to have high screen time compared to those with healthy mothers (95% CI: 1.53-1.64, p< 0.001). Similarly, children with fathers with poor physical health were more likely to have high screen time compared with the children with healthy fathers (95% CI: 1.49-1.62, p< 0.001). Poor maternal and paternal mental health were also associated with increased screen time with prevalence ratio (of high versus low screen time) of 1.41 (95% CI: 1.36- 1.46, p< 0.001) and 1.44 (1.38-1.51, p< 0.001) respectively. Higher screen time was found in older children, males, and children living in lower-income households. All associations were statistically significant. Table 1 shows the baseline characteristics of the study population. Table 2 presents the results of both primary and secondary outcomes.

Conclusion: Children whose primary caregivers had poor physical or mental health tended to have higher screen time. Increased screen time was observed among older children, males, and those from lower-income households. This study highlights the importance of prioritizing anticipatory guidance for parents with poor physical and mental health, with a focus on the need to limit their children’s screen time.