Association Between Adolescent Screen Time And Neighborhood Socioeconomic Factors

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Studies have reported that adolescents from socioeconomically disadvantaged sectors spend more time on screen-based sedentariness, such as television viewing, compared with socioeconomically advantaged ones. Moreover, residents of poor neighborhoods have less access to healthy environments and more barriers to engaging in physical activity and accessing social services. However, although Internet use (cell phones, computers) has proliferated in Japan recently, few studies have shown associations between adolescents’ screen time and neighborhood socioeconomic factors. PURPOSE: We investigated the association between adolescents’ screen time and neighborhood socioeconomic factors. METHODS: This study included 6843 adolescents (3522 males /3321 females, age range 10-15, 48 schools) for whom we recorded several demographic characteristics. We asked about screen time associated with television viewing, video games, and Internet use. We also asked about the frequency per week of screen time just before bedtime. The Area Deprivation Index, which consists of variables associated with poverty from the 2010 population census of Japan, measured neighborhood deprivation. Moreover, we calculated the proportion of people who completed university or graduate school based on the 2015 population census. We used multi-level linear regression analysis by sex, adjusted for age, school type (elementary and secondary school), Body Mass Index, and population density (based on the 2015 census). RESULTS: Adolescents from deprived neighborhoods showed significantly higher levels of Internet-based screen time (males: b = 0.615, p < 0.01, female: b = 0.578, p < 0.01) and frequency of screen time just before bedtime (males: b = 0.008, p < 0.01, females: b = 0.010, p < 0.01). Furthermore, females in lower education level neighborhoods often spent screen time just before bedtime (b = -0.027, p < 0.05). In contrast, significant associations were not observed among males. CONCLUSIONS: Neighborhood socioeconomic factors are associated with adolescents’ Internet use. These factors may be secondary to the effects of the domestic and neighborhood environments and rapid and widespread Internet progress in Japan.

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