ArticleActa paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)2022
Children aged 3-4 years were more likely to be given mobile devices for calming purposes if they had weaker overall executive functioning.
Article in Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Screen Use, Child Development and Family Involvement in Children Aged 2-7 Years: A Systematic Review.Journal of paediatrics and child health · 2026Pooled it
- Cross-Sectional Associations of Screen Media Use Patterns with Executive Functioning and Emotional Self-Regulation Among U.S. Preschool-Aged Children.Research square · 2026Article
- Delay of gratification, inhibitory control, and use of media to regulate emotions in toddlers.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Maternal Screen-Related Behaviors, Toddler Screen Use, and Toddler BMI in Mexican American Families: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2026Article
- Correlates of mobile device use in young children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Does Parental Media Soothing Lead to the Risk of Callous-Unemotional Behaviors in Early Childhood? Testing a Moderated Mediation Model.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Applying Behavioral Biometrics to Mobile Device Use Measurement in Children: Evaluating the Impact of Training Data Size, Proximity, and Type on Model Performance.Journal of technology in behavioral science · 2025Article
- Screen-Related Parenting Practices in Mexican American Families with Toddlers: Development of Culturally- and Contextually-Relevant Scales.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Problematic Digital Technology Use Measures in Children Aged 0 to 6 Years: Scoping Review.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
- Measuring Parents' Regulatory Media Use for Themselves and Their Children.Frontiers in developmental psychology · 2024Article
- Screen media exposure and behavioral adjustment in early childhood during and after COVID-19 home lockdown periods.Computers in human behavior · 2023Article
- Longitudinal Associations Between Use of Mobile Devices for Calming and Emotional Reactivity and Executive Functioning in Children Aged 3 to 5 Years.JAMA pediatrics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
aimYoung children with weaker self-regulation use more digital media, but studies have been limited by parent-reported screen time measures. We examine associations between early childhood executive functioning and objective mobile device usage.
methodsThe parents of 368 American children (51.6% male) aged 3-4 years of age completed standardised measures of executive functioning, parenting stress and household chaos. They provided mobile sampling data for 1 week in 2018-2019 and reported how often the children used mobile devices to calm themselves.
resultsThe children's mean age was about 3.8 years. A third of the children who were given devices to calm them down had weaker executive functioning in the overall and multivariable models, including working memory, planning and organisation. So did 39.7% of the children who used educational apps. Streaming videos, using age-inappropriate apps and using the mobile device for more than1 h per day were not associated with executive functioning levels. Parenting stress and household chaos did not moderate the associations.
conclusionThis study confirms previous studies that suggesting that children with weaker overall executive functioning used devices more for calming purposes. It also raises questions about whether children with weaker executive functioning should use educational apps.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.