Longitudinal associations of preschoolers' technology and digital medial (TDM) use and executive functioning: a mechanism linking TDM with young children's weight status

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PROJECT SUMMARY Technology and digital media (TDM) use has been associated with poorer developmental and health outcomes in young children. Given the high rate of TDM use, which on average exceeds recommendations, among preschool age children, it is important to examine TDM use effects on development and health outcomes during this critical early stage of child development. Using a multidisciplinary approach (clinical psychology, developmental psychology, electrical engineering, and pediatrics), one of the main goals of the proposed larger P01 application (of which this project is a part of) is to use innovative, objective, and passive measures to precisely quantify children’s TDM use. The first aim of this specific project will be to focus on examining associations between preschoolers’ TDM use and executive functioning (EF) as well as testing EF as a cognitive mechanism linking TDM use with child BMI. The second aim will be to test bidirectional associations between executive functioning, child BMI, and TDM use. Finally, the third aim will test the novel moderating influences of general parenting (warmth/sensitivity, intrusiveness), parent scaffolding in two contexts (non-TDM and TDM), and TDM content, which are candidates for disrupting the cascade from children’s TDM use to their EF and BMI. To our knowledge, this will be the first study to use a comprehensive and objective assessment tool to measure TDM use, its association with EF, and the mediating role of EF on the TDM-BMI association in preschool children using a longitudinal design over a 12-month timeframe. Also, to our knowledge, this is one of the only studies to consider bidirectional associations – specifically that TDM use is not only related to children’s outcome, but also that children’s EF and BMI may influence their subsequent TDM use. As part of our focus on TDM use, educational content will be assessed advancing developmental research beyond a common focus on the amount of TDM use. Using multiple direct observational measures of EF in a controlled setting, this project will also inform the development of child cognition as well as obesity. Finally, adapted from existing tasks and coding procedures, a novel lab-based parent/child TDM task will be employed to examine parental scaffolding behaviors, known to improve child EF, and how these scaffolding behaviors may moderate links between TDM use and children’s EF. Advancing our understanding of the role of TDM use on the areas of cognition and health using innovative methods will assist in the development of effective strategies for improving child outcomes and provide parents and health service providers actionable information informing children’s TDM use guidelines.