IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 2599: The Association between Children’s and Parents’ Co-TV Viewing and Their Total Screen Time in Six European Countries: Cross-Sectional Data from the Feel4diabetes-Study

IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 2599: The Association between Children’s and Parents’ Co-TV Viewing and Their Total Screen Time in Six European Countries: Cross-Sectional Data from the Feel4diabetes-Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph15112599

Authors: Julie Latomme Vicky Van Stappen Greet Cardon Philip J. Morgan Mina Lateva Nevena Chakarova Jemina Kivelä Jaana Lindström Odysseas Androutsos Esther M. González-Gil Pilar De Miguel-Etayo Anna Nánási László R. Kolozsvári Yannis Manios Marieke De Craemer

In many European children, high levels of screen time can be found, which is associated with several adverse health outcomes. Therefore, there is a need for identifying effective intervention strategies that reduce screen time in children. A factor that may contribute to excessive screen time in children may be “co-TV viewing” (i.e., the time that parents and children spend on watching TV together), as parents often recognize the importance of limiting children’s (individual) screen time, but often encourage TV viewing as a family because of its perceived benefits (e.g., educational purposes). The primary aim of this study was to investigate the (sex-specific) association between co-TV viewing and both children’s and parents’ screen time, and these associations were investigated across and within six European countries. In total, 10,969 parents (Meanage = 40.7 ± 5.3 years, MeanBMI = 24.4 ± 4.6) of primary school children (Meanage = 8.2 ± 1.0 years, 49.0% boys, MeanBMI = 17.3 ± 2.8) completed a questionnaire assessing co-TV viewing and screen time. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted. Across countries, positive associations were found between co-TV viewing and both children’s (β = 11.85, SE = 3.69, p < 0.001) and parents’ screen time (β = 14.47, SE = 4.43, p = 0.001). Similar associations were found in most (but not all) countries. The results suggest that targeting co-TV viewing might be a promising intervention strategy because of its potential to limit screen time of both children and parents.

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