A Large-Scale Test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis: Quantifying the Relations Between Digital-Screen Use and the Mental Well-Being of Adolescents

Psychological Science

Volumn 28, Issue 2, 2017, Pages 204-215

  Przybylski, Andrew K ^a,b   Weinstein, Netta ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^c CARDIFF UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

adolescents; digital technology; mental well being; open data; open materials; preregistered; screen time

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR; ENGLAND; EPIDEMIOLOGY; HUMAN; INTERNET; MENTAL HEALTH; SMARTPHONE; SOCIAL MEDIA; STATISTICS AND NUMERICAL DATA; TELEVISION; VIDEO GAME;

ADOLESCENT; ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR; ENGLAND; HUMANS; INTERNET; MENTAL HEALTH; SMARTPHONE; SOCIAL MEDIA; TELEVISION; VIDEO GAMES;

EID: 85011932087     PISSN: 09567976     EISSN: 14679280     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0956797616678438     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. Anderson S. E., Economos C. D., Must A., (2008). 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, 8(1), Article 366. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-8-366
2. Bell V., Bishop D. V. M., Przybylski A. K., (2015). The debate over digital technology and young people. British Medical Journal, 351, Article h3064. doi:10.1136/bmj.h3064
3. Boone J. E., Gordon-Larsen P., Adair L. S., Popkin B. M., (2007). Screen time and physical activity during adolescence: Longitudinal effects on obesity in young adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 4(1), Article 26. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-4-26
4. Brown A., Shifrin D. L., Hill D. L., (2015). Beyond “turn it off”: How to advise families on media use. AAP News, 36(10), 54. doi:10.1542/aapnews.20153610-54
5. Cao H., Qian Q., Weng T., Yuan C., Sun Y., Wang H., Tao F., (2011). Screen time, physical activity and mental health among urban adolescents in China. Preventive Medicine, 53, 316–320. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.09.002
6. Clarke A., Friede T., Putz R., Ashdown J., Martin S., Blake A...Stewart-Brown S., (2011). Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS): Validated for teenage school students in England and Scotland. A mixed methods assessment. BMC Public Health, 11, Article 487. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-487
7. Council on Communications and Media. (2013). Children, adolescents, and the media. Pediatrics, 132, 958–961. doi:10.1542/peds.2013-2656
8. Department for Communities and Local Government. (2015). The English indices of deprivation 2015. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/465791/English_Indices_of_Deprivation_2015_-_Statistical_Release.pdf
9. Etchells P. J., Gage S. H., Rutherford A. D., Munafò M. R., (2016). Prospective investigation of video game use in children and subsequent conduct disorder and depression using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. PLoS ONE, 11(1), Article e0147732. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147732
10. Eynon R., Helsper E., (2015). Family dynamics and Internet use in Britain: What role do children play in adults’ engagement with the Internet? Information, Communication & Society, 18, 156–171. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2014.942344
11. Ferguson C. J., Donnellan M. B., (2014). Is the association between children’s baby video viewing and poor language development robust? A reanalysis of Zimmerman, Christakis, and Meltzoff (2007). Developmental Psychology, 50, 129–137. doi:10.1037/a0033628
12. Fletcher A. C., Nickerson P., Wright K. L., (2003). Structured leisure activities in middle childhood: Links to well-being. Journal of Community Psychology, 31, 641–659. doi:10.1002/jcop.10075
13. Granic I., Lobel A., Engels R. C. M. E. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69, 66–78. doi:10.1037/a0034857
14. Hamer M., Stamatakis E., Mishra G., (2009). Psychological distress, television viewing, and physical activity in children aged 4 to 12 years. Pediatrics, 123, 1263–1268. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-1523
15. Hamer M., Stamatakis E., Mishra G. D., (2010). Television- and screen-based activity and mental well-being in adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 38, 375–380. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2009.12.030
16. Houghton S., Hunter S. C., Rosenberg M., Wood L., Zadow C., Martin K., Shilton T., (2015). Virtually impossible: Limiting Australian children and adolescents daily screen based media use. BMC Public Health, 15, Article 5. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-15-5
17. Iannotti R. J., Kogan M. D., Janssen I., Boyce W. F., (2009). Patterns of adolescent physical activity, screen-based media use, and positive and negative health indicators in the U.S. and Canada. Journal of Adolescent Health, 44, 493–499. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.10.142
18. Junco R., (2012). The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Computers & Education, 58, 162–171. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2011.08.004
19. Kremer P., Elshaug C., Leslie E., Toumbourou J. W., Patton G. C., Williams J., (2014). Physical activity, leisure-time screen use and depression among children and young adolescents. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 17, 183–187. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2013.03.012
20. Lanningham-Foster L., Jensen T. B., Foster R. C., Redmond A. B., Walker B. A., Heinz D., Levine J. A., (2006). Energy expenditure of sedentary screen time compared with active screen time for children. Pediatrics, 118, e1831–e1835. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-1087
21. Lenhart A., Smith A., Anderson M., Duggan M., Perrin A., (2015). Teens, technology and friendships. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/06/teens-technology-and-friendships/
22. Linebarger D. L., Vaala S. E., (2010). Screen media and language development in infants and toddlers: An ecological perspective. Developmental Review, 30, 176–202. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2010.03.006
23. Luyckx K., Soenens B., Goossens L., Beckx K., Wouters S., (2008). Identity exploration and commitment in late adolescence: Correlates of perfectionism and mediating mechanisms on the pathway to well-being. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 27, 336–361. doi:10.1521/jscp.2008.27.4.336
24. Morey R. D., Chambers C. D., Etchells P. J., Harris C. R., Hoekstra R., Lakens D...Zwaan R. A., (2016). The Peer Reviewers’ Openness Initiative: Incentivizing open research practices through peer review. Royal Society Open Science, 3(1), Article 150547. doi:10.1098/rsos.150547
25. Nelson L. D., Simonsohn U., (2014, September 17). Thirty-somethings are shrinking and other U-shaped challenges. Retrieved from http://datacolada.org/27
26. Neuman S. B., (1988). The displacement effect: Assessing the relation between television viewing and reading performance. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 414–440. doi:10.2307/747641
27. Ofcom. (2015). Children and parents: Media use and attitudes report 2015. Retrieved from http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/research-publications/childrens/children-parents-nov-15/
28. Office for National Statistics. (2012). Ethnicity and national identity in England and Wales: 2011. Retrieved from http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/ethnicity/articles/ethnicityandnationalidentityinenglandandwales/2012-12-11/pdf
29. O’Hara K., (2008). Understanding geocaching practices and motivations. In CHI ’08: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1177–1186). New York, NY: ACM Press. doi:10.1145/1357054.1357239
30. Parkes A., Sweeting H., Wight D., Henderson M., (2013). Do television and electronic games predict children’s psychosocial adjustment? Longitudinal research using the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 98, 341–348. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2011-301508
31. Przybylski A. K., (2014). Electronic gaming and psychosocial adjustment. Pediatrics, 134, e716–e722. doi:10.1542/peds.2013-4021
32. Robinson-Cimpian J. P., (2014). Inaccurate estimation of disparities due to mischievous responders: Several suggestions to assess conclusions. Educational Researcher, 43, 171–185. doi:10.3102/0013189X14534297
33. Ryan R. M., Bernstein J. H., Brown K. W., (2010). Weekends, work, and well-being: Psychological need satisfactions and day of the week effects on mood, vitality, and physical symptoms. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 29, 95–122. doi:10.1521/jscp.2010.29.1.95
34. Ryan R. M., Deci E. L., (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
35. Simmons J. P., Nelson L. D., Simonsohn U., (2011). False-positive psychology: Undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant. Psychological Science, 22, 1359–1366. doi:10.1177/0956797611417632
36. Sisson S. B., Broyles S. T., Baker B. L., Katzmarzyk P. T., (2010). Screen time, physical activity, and overweight in U.S. youth: National Survey of Children’s Health 2003. Journal of Adolescent Health, 47, 309–311. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.02.016
37. Stewart-Brown S., Tennant A., Tennant R., Platt S., Parkinson J., Weich S., (2009). Internal construct validity of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS): A Rasch analysis using data from the Scottish Health Education Population Survey. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 7, Article 15. doi:10.1186/1477-7525-7-15
38. Strasburger V. C., Donnerstein E., Bushman B. J., (2014). Why is it so hard to believe that media influence children and adolescents? Pediatrics, 133, 571–573. doi:10.1542/peds.2013-2334
39. Tennant R., Hiller L., Fishwick R., Platt S., Joseph S., Weich S...Stewart-Brown S., (2007). The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS): Development and UK validation. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 5, Article 63. doi:10.1186/1477-7525-5-63
40. Valkenburg P. M., Peter J., (2009). Social consequences of the Internet for adolescents: A decade of research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 1–5. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01595.x
41. Yarcheski A., Mahon N. E., Yarcheski T. J., (2001). Social support and well-being in early adolescents: The role of mediating variables. Clinical Nursing Research, 10, 163–181.