Screen time and autistic-like behaviors among preschool children in China

ABSTRACT

Screen time is becoming increasingly common in daily life. Early and excessive screen use has raised growing concerns for children’s neuropsychological development. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between exposure to screen time in early life and the presence of autistic-like behaviors among preschool children. 29,461 child-caregiver dyads at kindergartens in Longhua New District of Shenzhen, China, were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Information concerning socio-demographic characteristics, frequency and duration of children’s electronic screen exposure for each year since birth, and autistic-like behaviors (measured by the Autism Behavior Checklist) were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire completed by the primary caregivers. A series of logistic regression models assessed the association between screen time and autistic-like behaviors. Results indicated that younger initial age, longer daily screen time and longer cumulative years of screen exposure since birth were associated with the presence of autistic-like behaviors at preschool age. The risk was enhanced with the increase of both daily screen time and cumulative years of screen exposure during preschool period. Moreover, the cross-over analysis indicated that the first three years following birth might be a sensitive period for children when screen exposure increases the risk of experiencing autistic-like behaviors. In conclusion, our study implied that screen exposure in early life might increase the occurrence of autistic-like behaviors among preschoolers. These findings support the need for early interventions into preschoolers’ screen use, however longitudinal studies are necessary to further confirm the causal relationship between early screen time and the incidence of later autistic-like behaviors among preschool children.

KEYWORDS:

• Screen time
• autistic-like behavior
• preschool children

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to show their gratitude to the families who participated in the study, the doctors from Longhua Maternal and Child Healthcare Center, teachers from kindergartens where the study was conducted, and students from School of Public Health at Sun Yat-sen University who took part in the investigation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Longhua Child Cohort Study (LCCS) was funded by the Government of Longhua New District of Shenzhen, China, under Grant number [2013142]; Guangdong Science and Technology Program Project, under Grant number [2017B020227006]; Guangzhou Science and Technology Project, under Grant number [201804020049].