The Longitudinal Relationship Between Screen Time, Sleep and a Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Childhood

Birgit Levelink*, Marjolein van der Vlegel, Monique Mommers, Jessica Gubbels, Edward Dompeling, Frans J.M. Feron, Dorothea M.C.B. van Zeben-van der Aa, Petra Hurks, Carel Thijs

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Objective: To evaluate longitudinal associations between recreational screen time and sleep in early childhood, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at age 8 to 10 years. Method: Questionnaires from 2,768 mother-child pairs from the Dutch KOALA Birth Cohort Study were used. General estimating equation logistic regression analyses examined associations between screen time and sleep at age 2, 4, and 6, and ADHD at age 8 to 10. Linear regression analysis examined associations between television time, sleep and CBCL/2-3 scores at age 2. Results: Longitudinally, neither screen time nor sleep were associated with ADHD. Cross-sectionally, CBCL/2-3 externalizing symptom scores increased by 0.03 with every hour television time (95% CI 0.002–0.05) and increased by 0.02 per hour of less sleep (95% CI −0.03–−0.01). Conclusion: Despite an association with externalizing symptoms at age 2, screen time and sleep in early childhood were not associated with ADHD. Carefulness is warranted when extrapolating cross-sectional associations at early age to an ADHD diagnosis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2003-2013
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Attention Disorders
Volume25
Issue number14
Early online date13 Sept 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or, publication of this article: this study made use of data collected with financial support of the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw no. 2100.0090); Royal Friesland Foods; Triodos Foundation; Phoenix Foundation; Raphaël Foundation; Iona Foundation; Foundation for the Advancement of Heilpedagogie; Dutch Brain Foundation, and Biobanking and Biomolecular Research Infrastructure Netherlands (BBMRI-nl project RA5) (all in the Netherlands). These organisations were not involved at all in the study design, collection and analysis of data or interpretation of data. They had no influence on the writing process or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or, publication of this article: this study made use of data collected with financial support of the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw no. 2100.0090); Royal Friesland Foods; Triodos Foundation; Phoenix Foundation; Rapha?l Foundation; Iona Foundation; Foundation for the Advancement of Heilpedagogie; Dutch Brain Foundation, and Biobanking and Biomolecular Research Infrastructure Netherlands (BBMRI-nl project RA5) (all in the Netherlands). These organisations were not involved at all in the study design, collection and analysis of data or interpretation of data. They had no influence on the writing process or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Publisher Copyright:
© ©The Author(s) 2020.

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