Correlates of small screens play in 6-10 years old Chinese children

Background With development of the electronic technology, the use of small or mobile devices has been widely popularized among children. The aim of this study was to explore the factors associated with small screen use and its duration among elementary school students. Methods A total of 1121 Chinese students aged 6-10 years were recruited for this study. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of whether students use small screen devices and linear regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of students' small screen time. Results Girls (OR=0.74, p=0.035), having their own small screen devices (OR=3.66, p<0.001), unclear screen rules (OR=1.45, p<0.001), father's education level (OR=0.49, p=0.033), and mother's weekend screen time (<1 h/d as the reference group) 1-2 h/d (OR=2.49, p=0.001), 2-3 h/d (OR=2.70, p=0.001), ≥3 h/d (OR=2.27, p=0.009) were significantly associated with students’ use on screens. For total time, girls spent more time on small screens compared to boys (β=58.88, p=0.043); having their own small screen devices (β=65.47, p=0.026), the less clear the family's screen time rules (β=60.55, p<0.001), and the longer mother's weekend screen time (β=142.61, p=0.027) were associated with longer total screen time for students. Having their own small devices (OR=2.08, p=0.026) and having less clear family ST rules (OR=1.61, p=0.004) were significantly associated with a total ST on small devices of ≥ 1 hour/day. Conclusion Availability of their own small electronic devices, clarity of family screen rules, father's education levels, and mother's weekend screen time were significantly correlated with 6-10-year-old students' screen time on small devices in China.