Citation

Garrison MM, Liekweg K, Christakis DA. Pediatrics 2011; 128(1): 29-35.

Affiliation

Seattle Children's Research Institute, Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle, Washington; and Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Academy of Pediatrics)

DOI

10.1542/peds.2010-3304

PMID

21708803

PMCID

PMC3124101

Abstract

Background: Media use has been shown to negatively affect a child's sleep, especially in the context of evening use or with a television in the child's bedroom. However, little is known about how content choices and adult co-use affect this relationship. Objective: To describe the impact of media content, timing, and use behaviors on child sleep. Methods: These data were collected in the baseline survey and media diary of a randomized controlled trial on media use in children aged 3 to 5 years. Sleep measures were derived from the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Media diaries captured time, content title, and co-use of television, video-game, and computer usage; titles were coded for ratings, violence, scariness, and pacing. Nested linear regression models were built to examine the impact of timing, content, and co-use on the sleep problem score. Results: On average, children consumed 72.9 minutes of media screen time daily, with 14.1 minutes occurring after 7:00 pm. Eighteen percent of parents reported at least 1 sleep problem; children with a bedroom television consumed more media and were more likely to have a sleep problem. In regression models, each additional hour of evening media use was associated with a significant increase in the sleep problem score (0.743 [95% confidence interval: 0.373-1.114]), as was daytime use with violent content (0.398 [95% confidence interval: 0.121-0.676]). There was a trend toward greater impact of daytime violent use in the context of a bedroom television (P = .098) and in low-income children (P = .07). Conclusions: Violent content and evening media use were associated with increased sleep problems. However, no such effects were observed with nonviolent daytime media use.

Language: en