The relationship between screen time before bedtime and behaviors of preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder and the mediating effects of sleep

BMC Psychiatry

Research

Hanyu Dong¹  Feiyong Jia¹  Yang Xue¹  Tiantian Wang¹  Junyan Feng¹ 

[1] Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, The First Hospital of Jilin University, 130021, Changchun, China;

关键词: Screen time;    Sleep;    CSHQ;    CBCL;    Emotional/behavioral difficulties;    Sedentary behavior;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-023-05128-6

 received in 2022-10-31, accepted in 2023-08-22,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThere are overlapping effects of screen time and sleep on children’s behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of screen time with behavior problems in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the probable mediating effects of sleep, in order to provide evidence for the need for clinical identification and intervention.MethodsA sample of 358 preschoolers with ASD were included. We investigated the children’s basic characteristics of sex and age, ASD symptoms (ABC, CARS, and ADOS-2), neurodevelopment (GDS-C), sleep habits (CSHQ), and behavior (CBCL). Pearson correlation tests were used to determine the direct correlations among children’s screen time, CBCL, and CSHQ. Linear regression analysis was used to explore whether screen time predicted total score of CBCL. Multi-step linear regression analysis was used to investigate the mediating effect of sleep on the relationship between screen time and total score of CBCL.ResultsScreen time before bedtime was correlated with CBCL and CSHQ, which indicated that screen time before bedtime was correlated with sleep and behavior in children with ASD. Screen time before bedtime was a predictor of CBCL total score (indicating children’s behavior), and CSHQ total score (indicating children’s sleep habits) played a partial mediating role between screen time before bedtime and children’s behavior.ConclusionClinicians should support and educate parents of children with ASD, which should focus on managing screen time, especially screen time before bedtime.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

【 图 表 】

Fig. 1