Type of screen time and academic achievement in children from Australia and New Zealand: interactions with socioeconomic status

ABSTRACT

Increasing screen time in childhood has raised concerns about potential effects on academic achievement, with speculation that this is due in part to an overall decrease in sleep. However, research does not often distinguish between different types of screen time, such as that dedicated to home or other educational pursuits. Further, family factors such as socioeconomic status are known to predict academic performance but are rarely examined in concert. The current study aimed to examine the association between screen time and academic achievement and to extend the current research by exploring whether the association was moderated by the type of screen time and family socioeconomic status. Participants were 651 children from Australia and New Zealand (M_age = 10.09, SD = 3.64). Participants completed an academic achievement test, and parents reported screen time activities. Homework, but not sleep, was associated with better academic achievement. Educational television viewing (TV), but not entertainment TV, was associated with lower academic achievement. Socioeconomic status moderated the association between educational TV and academic achievement (B = −.29, p = .007). The results suggest that while screen time type does appear to be implicated in academic achievement, the mechanism appears to be specific to higher socioeconomic status families.

KEYWORDS:

• Screen time
• Children and adolescents
• Academic achievement
• Socioeconomic status
• Australia and New Zealand

Acknowledgments

DRS, TH, and LKB are supported by Deakin University, and CW and NJ are supported by Pearson Clinical Assessment. Data for this project were part of the WIAT-III Australian and New Zealand standardisation sample.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics

Approval for the WIAT-III A&NZ standardisation project was obtained from the University of Sydney Ethics Committee (Human Research) and the relevant ethics committees of school authorities in each state and territory where required. The present study was declared by the Deakin review board to be exempt from ethical review because it only involved the use of pre-existing, non-identifiable data and/or publicly available data (DUHREC 2018-215).

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

David R. Skvarc

David R. Skvarc is a lecturer at the School of Psychology, Deakin University. Research areas include ageing, cognitive function, neurodegeneration and neurodevelopment. Twitter: @Daveskvarc

Anne Penny

Anne Penny is a provisional educational psychologist from the School of Psychology, Deakin University. Research areas include academic performance and healthy childhood development.

Travis Harries

Travis Harries is a PhD candidate at the School of Psychology, Deakin University. TH is supervised by DRS. Research areas include child-to-parent relationships and interpersonal development.

Christopher Wilson

Christopher Wilson is a senior research manager at Pearson Clinical, and a PhD candidate at the School of Psychology, Deakin University. Research areas include clinical research and data analysis, test development, and interpersonal psychology.

Nicki Joshua

Nicki Joshua is a psychiatrist and research director at Pearson Clinical. Research areas include psychosis, cognitive function, and psychological testing and assessment.

Linda K. Byrne

Linda K. Byrne is Deputy Head of School at the Faculty of Health, Deakin University. Research areas include mental illness, psychological testing, clinical assessment, and neuroscience.