engleski

Digital media use in young children and its socio- emotional and health outcomes

Introduction: Exposure of young children aged 6-7 years to digital media of all forms is increasing. Furthermore, concerns about how the use of digital media affects children and families are also rising. In this research we report prelim-inary findings from a small scale study aiming to investigate the relationship of children's use of digital devices in home environment and some socio-emotion-al, as well as health outcomes.Methods: A survey was conducted in spring 2019 among 95 parents of chil-dren aged 6 to 7 (44 girls and 51 boys) in three primary schools in Osijek, Cro-atia. They provided the information regarding their children’s digital media use in home environment as well as some socio-emotional and health outcomes.Results: We examined the relationship of frequency of use of different digital media in home environment and the purpose of its use during a typical work-ing day or weekend, with parental estimates of children’s health, general hap-piness, peer relations, level of frustration, attention, and prosocial behavior. Family’s socio-economic status and parental perception of digital technology were used as a control variables.Discussion and conclusion: Exposure of young children aged 6 to 7 years to digital media of all forms, might interfere with children’s socio-emotional and health outcomes. Our findings suggest that preventing an excessive use of dig-ital devices may reduce the likelihood of socio-emotional and health problems in children.

digital media ; young children ; children's health

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