ArticleBMC public health2024
Screen time and mental health: a prospective analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.
Article in BMC public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Smartphone Apps for Preventing Adolescent Health Problems Among Health Care Professionals: Systematic Search and Quality Assessment.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Pooled it
- Recreational screen use and internalizing problems from preadolescence to young adulthood in a longitudinal twin cohort with co-twin comparison.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Lower engagement of cognitive control in children on ChatGPT.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026Article
- Increasing social media use trajectories are linked to greater eating disorder symptoms.Annals of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Young minds in distress: Exploring the global rise in youth mental health diagnoses.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Digital Screen Time and Mental Health Difficulties Among Preschool Children in Western China: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Chronic Disease and Disability in the United States: Trends, Inequities, and Imperatives for Policy Reform.The Milbank quarterly · 2026Article
- Moderate vs. Excessive Video Gaming: Distinct Neurocognitive and Neural Activation Profiles in Preadolescence.Research square · 2026Article
- Social Media Use Soon After Waking and Depression Among U.S. Adults.Journal of prevention (2022) · 2026Article
- Mediating effects of healthy lifestyle factors on associations between mental health and functional outcomes in early adolescence.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Cross-sectional bidirectional associations between executive function and emotion regulation in adolescents: the moderating role of digital engagement intensity.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Problematic Social Media Use and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Adolescents.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Taming the endless scroll? Short-form videos, digital routines and neurocognitive outcomes in youth : a systematic literature review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Review
- Social Media Use Trajectories and Substance Use Experimentation: A Prospective Cohort Study.The American journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Problematic patterns of social media use increase with spontaneous cortical activity and transdiagnostic mental health symptoms in youth.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Trends and Behavioral Correlates of Excessive Screen Time Among Swedish Adolescents: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study (2017-2023).Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- From screens to snacks: social media exposure and food consumption triggers among overweight and obese adolescents - evidence from a cross-sectional, mixed-methods approach.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Physical activity, emotional eating, screen-based sedentary behavior, and physical and mental health in chinese university students: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Associations of adolescent social media use trajectories with spatial and verbal memory: a prospective cohort study.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
- Unraveling links between lifestyle behaviors and depressive symptoms: a network analysis using NHANES 2007-2018 data.Annals of general psychiatry · 2026Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundDespite the ubiquity of adolescent screen use, there are limited longitudinal studies that examine the prospective relationships between screen time and child behavioral problems in a large, diverse nationwide sample of adolescents in the United States, which was the objective of the current study.
methodsWe analyzed cohort data of 9,538 adolescents (9-10 years at baseline in 2016-2018) with two years of follow-up from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. We used mixed-effects models to analyze associations between baseline self-reported screen time and parent-reported mental health symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist, with random effects adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, household income, parent education, and study site. We tested for effect modification by sex and race/ethnicity.
resultsThe sample was 48.8% female and racially/ethnically diverse (47.6% racial/ethnic minority). Higher total screen time was associated with all mental health symptoms in adjusted models, and the association was strongest for depressive (B = 0.10, 95% CI 0.06, 0.13, p < 0.001), conduct (B = 0.07, 95% CI 0.03, 0.10, p < 0.001), somatic (B = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01, 0.11, p = 0.026), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms (B = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01, 0.10, p = 0.013). The specific screen types with the greatest associations with depressive symptoms included video chat, texting, videos, and video games. The association between screen time and depressive, attention-deficit/hyperactivity, and oppositional defiant symptoms was stronger among White compared to Black adolescents. The association between screen time and depressive symptoms was stronger among White compared to Asian adolescents.
conclusionsScreen time is prospectively associated with a range of mental health symptoms, especially depressive symptoms, though effect sizes are small. Video chat, texting, videos, and video games were the screen types with the greatest associations with depressive symptoms. Future research should examine potential mechanisms linking screen use with child behavior problems.
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