The association between parental mental health and screen time among U.S. children aged 6–17

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OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between parental psychological symptoms and children's screen media behavior based on the data from a nationally representative sample. METHODS: This study included 3,974 children aged 6 to 17 years. Parental psychological symptoms were assessed using the PHQ-8 for depression and GAD-7 for anxiety. The dependent variable was children's daily screen time, dichotomized as more than 2 h versus 2 h or less per day. Weighted logistic regression models were used to examine associations, adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, and interaction analyses were conducted to explore subgroup variations. RESULTS: The cross-sectional study included 3,974 children aged 6 to 17 years, with 1,905 girls (47.92%) and 2,069 boys (52.08%). In total, 2,781 children (70.0%) reported daily screen time of more than 2 h. After adjusting for covariates, parental depression (OR = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.12-1.79; P = 0.004) and anxiety (OR = 1.29; 95% CI: 1.01-1.65; P = 0.04) were significantly associated with higher odds of exceeding the 2-hour threshold. Stratified analyses indicated that paternal depression was associated with stronger odds of children's excessive screen time (OR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.01-2.48; P = 0.04), suggesting possible differences between maternal and paternal associations on children's media use. CONCLUSION: Parental psychological symptoms were associated with increased screen time of children and adolescents, suggesting a need to explore causality and underlying mechanisms. This U.S. study found that children's screen time is associated with age, race, income, household size, and parental health, offering insights for parental guidance and future research.

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