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Adolescent Medicine

Screen Time Use Among US Adolescents During the COVID-19 PandemicFindings From the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

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To identify the key insights or developments described in this article

1 Credit CME

JAMA Pediatrics

Published Online: November 1, 2021

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

Jason M. Nagata, MD, MSc¹;

Catherine A. Cortez, BS²;

Chloe J. Cattle, BS¹;

Kyle T. Ganson, PhD, MSW³;

Puja Iyer, BA¹;

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS⁴;

Fiona C. Baker, PhD⁵

Author Affiliations

¹Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco
²Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles
³Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
⁴Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco
⁵Center for Health Sciences, SRI International, Menlo Park, California

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Excessive screen use in adolescents has been associated with physical and mental health risks,¹ and there are known disparities in screen use across sex, race and ethnicity, and income in adolescents.² The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home mandates, online learning, and social distancing requirements have led to an increasing reliance on digital media (ie, screens) for nearly all facets of adolescents’ lives (eg, entertainment, socialization, education). Although studies conducted worldwide have suggested an increase in screen time among children and teens during the pandemic,³^,4 this has not yet been explored using national US data. The aims of this study were to evaluate adolescents’ self-reported screen use during the pandemic across 7 modalities by sociodemographic categories and to assess mental health and resiliency factors associated with screen use among a demographically diverse, national sample of children and adolescents aged 10 to 14 years.

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: August 30, 2021.

Published Online: November 1, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.4334

Corresponding Author: Jason M. Nagata, MD, MSc, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th St, Fourth Floor, Box 0110, San Francisco, CA 94158 (jason.nagata@ucsf.edu)

Author Contributions: Dr Nagata and Ms Cortez had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Nagata, Cortez, Cattle, Ganson.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Nagata, Cortez, Ganson, Iyer, Bibbins-Domingo, Baker.

Drafting of the manuscript: Nagata, Cortez, Cattle, Iyer.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Nagata, Cortez, Ganson, Iyer, Bibbins-Domingo, Baker.

Statistical analysis: Nagata, Cortez.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Ganson.

Supervision: Nagata.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Baker reported receiving grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study.

Funding/Support: This study was supported in part by grant K08HL159350 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (Dr Nagata). Dr Nagata was also funded by Career Development Award CDA34760281 from the American Heart Association.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funding organizations had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Additional Information: The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and additional federal partners under award numbers U01DA041022, U01DA041025, U01DA041028, U01DA041048, U01DA041089, U01DA041093, U01DA041106, U01DA041117, U01DA041120, U01DA041134, U01DA041148, U01DA041156, U01DA041174, U24DA041123, and U24DA041147. A full list of supporters is available at https://abcdstudy.org/?s=nIH+collaborators. A listing of participating sites and a complete listing of the study investigators can be found at https://abcdstudy.org/principal-investigators.html. The ABCD consortium investigators designed and implemented the study and/or provided data but did not necessarily participate in the analysis or writing of this report.

References

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Anderson SE , Economos CD , Must A . Active play and screen time in US children aged 4 to 11 years in relation to sociodemographic and weight status characteristics: a nationally representative cross-sectional analysis. BMC Public Health. 2008;8(1):366. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-8-366 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Guo YF , Liao MQ , Cai WL , et al. Physical activity, screen exposure and sleep among students during the pandemic of COVID-19. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):8529. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-88071-4 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Werling AM , Walitza S , Drechsler R . Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on screen media use in patients referred for ADHD to child and adolescent psychiatry: an introduction to problematic use of the internet in ADHD and results of a survey. J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2021;128(7):1033-1043. doi:10.1007/s00702-021-02332-0 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Bagot KS , Matthews SA , Mason M , et al. Current, future and potential use of mobile and wearable technologies and social media data in the ABCD study to increase understanding of contributors to child health. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2018;32:121-129. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2018.03.008 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Nagata JM , Iyer P , Chu J , et al. Contemporary screen time modalities among children 9-10 years old and binge-eating disorder at one-year follow-up: a prospective cohort study. Int J Eat Disord. 2021;54(5):887-892. doi:10.1002/eat.23489 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.