Experimental effects of light and content from evening screen media use on children's sleep, executive functioning, and emotion regulation

项目摘要/摘要 近年来，儿童屏幕媒体的使用急剧增加。更多地使用屏幕，尤其是在 晚上的时间，虽然不是明确的，但通常与睡眠中断有关，包括较短的睡眠 睡眠时间长，难以入睡，整体睡眠质量下降。基于大量研究表明 儿童时期睡眠健康状况差，有力地预测了一系列不良后果(例如，肥胖、精神病 精神障碍，认知和学习成绩差，情绪失调，冒险行为增加， 自杀)，几乎由每个主要的儿科健康组织/协会提供的当前指南 建议孩子在睡前一小时内避免使用电子屏幕。虽然可能是直觉的， 支持这一指导方针的经验证据在很大程度上是横向的。也就是说，晚间屏幕的因果效应 对儿童睡眠和昼夜节律的作用还没有得到充分的证明，其机制也没有得到充分的证明(S) 通过它可能发生的睡眠中断被澄清。因此，有必要进行实验研究，以提供 为专业人士和家长提供循证指导，并为发展研究提供信息。的目标是 目前的研究是系统地测试屏幕曝光的影响以及唤醒媒体内容 关于N=200学龄儿童(8至11岁)的睡眠调节和昼夜节律，以及第二天 情绪调节和执行功能。我们客观评估和解释儿童的新能力 白天使用平板电脑的历史将使我们能够准确地隔离晚上使用平板电脑对儿童睡眠的影响。 使用4组随机对照设计，包括评估典型睡眠和媒体使用情况 通过为期3天的实验方案，我们计划：1)系统地测试夜幕媒体在 自然家庭环境对儿童睡眠时长、睡眠潜伏期和主观睡眠质量的影响； 将实验研究方法从实验室转换到家庭环境中，以检查 屏幕发出的强光和对唤醒儿童睡眠的媒体内容的暴露，昼夜节律 生理学和生理唤醒；3)考察晚间屏幕使用对儿童第二天执行力的影响 功能和情绪调节。这项拟议的研究解决了科学研究中的几个关键空白 关于使用晚间屏幕媒体对儿童睡眠健康的影响的知识，包括阐明 潜在负面影响可能发生的具体机制(S)。结果可能会直接通知 关于所有儿童使用晚间屏幕媒体的国家指导方针和政策。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Children’s screen media use has increased dramatically in recent years. Greater screen use, especially during the evening hours, is routinely, though not unequivocally, associated with disruption of sleep including shorter sleep duration, difficulty falling asleep, and reduced overall sleep quality. Based in a wealth of research showing poor sleep health in childhood to robustly forecast a wide range of adverse outcomes (e.g., obesity, psychiatric disorders, poor cognitive and academic performance, emotion dysregulation, increased risk-taking behaviors, suicidality), current guidelines provided by virtually every major pediatric health organization/association recommend that children avoid use of electronic screens in the hour before bed. While perhaps intuitive, empirical evidence to support this guideline is largely cross-sectional. That is, causal effects of evening screen use on children’s sleep and circadian timing have not been sufficiently demonstrated nor have the mechanism(s) through which sleep disruption may occur been clarified. Experimental studies are therefore necessary to provide professionals and parents with evidence-based guidance and inform developmental research. The goal of the current study is to systematically test the impact of light exposure from screens as well as arousing media content on N=200 school-aged children’s (8 to 11 years) sleep regulation and circadian timing, in addition to next-day emotion regulation and executive functioning. Our novel ability to objectively assess and account for children’s daytime tablet use history will allow us to accurately isolate the effects of evening screen use on children’s sleep. Using a 4-group randomized, controlled design including assessment of typical sleep and media use followed by a 3-day experimental protocol, we plan to: 1) systematically test the effects of evening screen media use in the natural home environment on children’s sleep duration, sleep latency, and subjective sleep quality; 2) translate experimental research methods from the laboratory to the home environment to examine the impact of bright light emitted from screens and exposure to arousing media content on children’s sleep, circadian physiology, and physiological arousal; 3) examine the role of evening screen use on children’s next day executive functioning and emotion regulation. The proposed research addresses several critical gaps in scientific knowledge regarding the impact of evening screen media use on children’s sleep health, including elucidating the specific mechanism(s) through which potential negative impacts may occur. Results may directly inform national guidelines and policies regarding evening screen media use in all children.