Associations between screen exposure and children selfregulation: A systematic review and meta-analysis

A systematic review and a meta -analysis were carried out to evaluate the type of methodological design of the existing research and to analyze the relationship between screen use and children selfregulation through a statistical analysis of r coefficients. Studies published between 2011 and 2021 that delve into the contribution of technological devices to the self -regulation of typically developing infants were considered. Twenty different associations were found in studies conducted with a total of 13408 children (0 -12 -yearold). Results showed that most of the studies were of parental reports, and the longer the time of screen exposure, the lower the scores on the selfregulation behavioral and psychometric tests (screen time, n = 20; r = - 0.18, 95% CI, - 0.26 to - 0.09), with high levels of interstudy heterogeneity. These findings show that it is necessary to include research from other countries and further analyze possible moderators.