Role of Parental Depressive Symptoms in the Relation Between
Preschoolers' Screen Use and Behavioral Problems
Abstract
Screens are increasingly present in young children’s lives. While
research suggests a relation between children’s screen use and
socioemotional outcomes, less is known about it in the familial context,
specifically regarding parents’ well-being. The study examined the
extent to which the relation between preschoolers’ screen time and
behavioral problems differs across the degrees of parents’ depressive
symptoms using a survey in a sample of 171 preschooler caregivers
(74.3% mothers; Mage = 32.9 years; 70.0% White, 12.9% multiracial,
7.1% Black, 5.9% Latinx, 4.1% Asian) in the US. Results showed that
the depressive symptoms moderated the relation between screen time and
internalizing behavior, but not externalizing behavior. The study
contributes by identifying a potential moderator, a risk factor, in the
familial context and illustrating different reasons that may drive
children’s screen use. This suggests the need for a more nuanced
understanding of the relation between young children’s screen use and
problematic behavior.