ArticlePublic health nutrition2020
Mediating role of disordered eating in the relationship between screen time and BMI in adolescents: longitudinal findings from the Research on Eating and Adolescent Lifestyles (REAL) study.
Article in Public health nutrition, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies Exploring the Link Between Physical Inactivity and Indicators of Childhood Overweight/Obesity and Metabolically Unhealthy Obesity Risk in Western Countries.Current obesity reports · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review on the eating behaviors of youth exceeding electronic device recommendations.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Physical activity, emotional eating, screen-based sedentary behavior, and physical and mental health in chinese university students: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Influence of lifestyle and eating behaviours on Mediterranean diet adherence in preschoolers from southern Spain.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Lifestyle Behaviours in Pre-Schoolers from Southern Spain-A Structural Equation Model According to Sex and Body Mass Index.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Meeting the 24-h movement recommendations and its relationship with Mediterranean dietary patterns in early childhood: the SENDO project.European journal of pediatrics · 2024Article
- The Association of Eating Behaviour with Physical Activity and Screen Time among Adolescents in the Klang Valley, Malaysia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study investigated whether the duration and type of screen time (ST) (TV viewing, recreational computer use, video gaming) is longitudinally associated with z-BMI and if these relationships are mediated by disordered eating (emotional, restrained).
designAt baseline, participants were n 1197 (T1; 60 % female) adolescents (mean age = 13·51 years) who completed surveys over 2 years. ST was assessed by a self-reported measure created by the investigative team, while emotional and restrained eating was measured by the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEB-Q). Height and weight were objectively measured to quantify z-BMI.
settingThirty-one public and two private schools from the region of Ottawa, Canada.
participantsStudents in grades 7-12.
resultsParallel multiple mediation analyses revealed that more time spent watching TV at baseline is associated with higher z-BMI at T3 (total effect; B = 0·19, se = 0·07, P = 0·01, 95 % CI 0·05, 0·34), but no relationships were observed for total ST exposure or other types of ST and z-BMI. Disordered eating did not mediate the positive association between baseline TV viewing and z-BMI at T3.
conclusionsTV viewing was longitudinally associated with higher z-BMI in a community-based sample of adolescents, but disordered eating behaviours did not mediate this relationship. However, other non-pathological eating behaviours may mediate the association between ST and obesity and warrant further investigation. Finding suggests that targeting reduction in youth's TV viewing may be an effective component in the prevention of childhood obesity.
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