SCREEN TIME INFLUENCE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Background. The World Health Organization calls for avoidance of screen-based media usage for children below the age of one and for limitation of screen time to not more than an hour per day for children under the age of five due to public health concerns. This study is aimed to determine the prevalence of excessive screen time and its association with early childhood social-emotional development among Malaysian children.Material and methods. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 600 Malaysian parents of children aged 18 and 36 months old. Child's social-emotional development was measured using the "Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional-2". Multivariate logistic regression method was utilized for data analysis. Results. A total of 82.2% of children did not adhere to screen time recommendations. Mean screen time recorded was 141.7 (SD 131.6) minutes per day. The odds of children with excessive screen time having poor mastery of social-emotional development is 2.5 times higher than children adhering to screen time recommendations, with this association persisting after adjustment to confounders (AOR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.07-5.86). Conclusions. Excessive screen time among children is linked to paucity in active parent-child interaction and hindrance in the process of learning and development which consequently leads to a delayed attainment of social-emotional milestones.