Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation

Self-regulation, the ability to control thoughts, emotions, and behavior for goal-directed activities, shows rapid development in infancy, toddlerhood, and preschool periods. Early self-regulatory skills predict later academic achievement and socioemotional adjustment. An increasing number of studie...

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Main Authors: Berna A. Uzundağ, Merve Nur Altundal, Dilara Keşşafoğlu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022-01-01
Series:Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/4490166
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author Berna A. Uzundağ
Merve Nur Altundal
Dilara Keşşafoğlu
author_facet Berna A. Uzundağ
Merve Nur Altundal
Dilara Keşşafoğlu
author_sort Berna A. Uzundağ
collection DOAJ
description Self-regulation, the ability to control thoughts, emotions, and behavior for goal-directed activities, shows rapid development in infancy, toddlerhood, and preschool periods. Early self-regulatory skills predict later academic achievement and socioemotional adjustment. An increasing number of studies suggest that screen media use may have negative effects on children’s developing self-regulatory skills. In this systematic review, we summarized and integrated the findings of the studies investigating the relationship between young children’s screen media use and their self-regulation. We searched the ERIC, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science databases and identified 39 relevant articles with 45 studies. We found that screen time in infancy is negatively associated with self-regulation, but findings were more inconsistent for later ages suggesting that screen time does not adequately capture the extent of children’s screen media use. The findings further indicated that background TV is negatively related to children’s self-regulation, and watching fantastical content seems to have immediate negative effects on children’s self-regulatory skills. We suggest that future studies should take the content and context of children’s screen media use into account and also focus on parent- and home-related factors such as parental behaviors that foster the development of self-regulatory skills.
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spelling doaj-art-12951191f2ef4416bb52a1f07449d0632025-08-20T02:02:12ZengWileyHuman Behavior and Emerging Technologies2578-18632022-01-01202210.1155/2022/4490166Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-RegulationBerna A. Uzundağ0Merve Nur Altundal1Dilara Keşşafoğlu2Department of PsychologyDepartment of PsychologyDepartment of PsychologySelf-regulation, the ability to control thoughts, emotions, and behavior for goal-directed activities, shows rapid development in infancy, toddlerhood, and preschool periods. Early self-regulatory skills predict later academic achievement and socioemotional adjustment. An increasing number of studies suggest that screen media use may have negative effects on children’s developing self-regulatory skills. In this systematic review, we summarized and integrated the findings of the studies investigating the relationship between young children’s screen media use and their self-regulation. We searched the ERIC, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science databases and identified 39 relevant articles with 45 studies. We found that screen time in infancy is negatively associated with self-regulation, but findings were more inconsistent for later ages suggesting that screen time does not adequately capture the extent of children’s screen media use. The findings further indicated that background TV is negatively related to children’s self-regulation, and watching fantastical content seems to have immediate negative effects on children’s self-regulatory skills. We suggest that future studies should take the content and context of children’s screen media use into account and also focus on parent- and home-related factors such as parental behaviors that foster the development of self-regulatory skills.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/4490166
spellingShingle Berna A. Uzundağ
Merve Nur Altundal
Dilara Keşşafoğlu
Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation
Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies
title Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation
title_full Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation
title_fullStr Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation
title_full_unstemmed Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation
title_short Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation
title_sort screen media exposure in early childhood and its relation to children s self regulation
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2022/4490166
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