An analysis of data from the Growing Up in Scotland study, published in JAMA Network Open, found no consistent relationship between the time children spend on screens and emotional, behavioral or social difficulties at ages 5 and 10 when family circumstances were taken into account. At 15, teenagers who played video games for five or more hours a day were more likely to have elevated difficulties than those who played for less than an hour, while those who used social media and messaging apps for at least an hour were less likely.
Widespread screen use has fueled concerns about children's psychosocial development. In the United Kingdom, according to the study, 85% of children aged 3 to 5 go online, rising to 100% at age 10, while 81% of children aged 10 to 12 use social media and messaging apps despite minimum age limits of 13. However, research findings are mixed, and debate continues over the scale of the potential harms.
Fiona McQuaid of the University of Edinburgh, who led the analysis, and her colleagues examined how screen use relates to psychosocial development, both at the same point in time and years later. The aim was to account for family factors, such as the quality of the parent-child relationship, that were often missing from previous research. They analyzed data from Growing Up in Scotland, a government-funded study by the Scottish Centre for Social Research, in which families with 10-month-old infants living in Scotland in 2005 and 2006 were identified through child benefit records and followed at regular intervals.
The analyses included 3,786 children at age 5, 3,126 at age 10 and 2,598 at age 15, with roughly equal numbers of boys and girls. Data were collected in 2009–2010, 2014–2015 and 2019–2020. Screen time outside school was reported by the primary caregiver at ages 5 and 10 and by the teenagers themselves at 15. At the younger ages, time spent watching television and using computers or playing games was combined, while at 15, television and films, video games, and social media or messaging were examined separately. The study recorded only duration, not content.
Parents completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a widely used tool covering emotional difficulties, conduct problems, hyperactivity and peer problems, as well as prosocial behavior. About 11% of children had above-average difficulties at age 5 and about 12% at ages 10 and 15. Daily screen use increased substantially with age: the proportion of children spending 3 or more hours a day on screens rose from 25% at age 5 to 52% at age 10, while the proportion playing video games for 3 or more hours rose from 1.7% at age 5 to around 21% at age 15. At 15, 28% of teenagers used social media and messaging apps for 3 or more hours a day.
After the researchers accounted for factors such as family income, deprivation, parents' education and health, children's cognitive performance, household chaos, and warmth or conflict in the parent-child relationship, total screen time was not associated with above-average difficulties at ages 5 and 10. The associations seen before these adjustments largely weakened. At 15, teenagers who played video games for 5 or more hours a day had 2.61 times the odds of elevated difficulties compared with those who played for less than an hour. By contrast, those who used social media and messaging apps for at least an hour a day had about 40% lower odds, although after correction for multiple comparisons, the finding held only for 1 to 2 hours of use.
Looking at changes over time, children who used screens for 5 or more hours a day at age 5 had 2.68 times the odds of elevated difficulties at age 10 compared with those who used them for less than an hour, but this association was no longer present at 15. It was also not confirmed in several alternative analyses, and only 119 children were in the group with the highest use. Prosocial behavior showed no consistent associations with screen use.
The authors recommend caution when interpreting the social media finding: teenagers who use it very little may differ from their peers in ways that affect their well-being, while those who are already doing well socially may simply be more willing to use these apps. The researchers conclude that guidelines focusing exclusively on screen time may have a limited impact on psychosocial outcomes and suggest also considering content, the context of use and parental involvement. They point out that screen use carries known risks, such as sedentary behavior, cyberbullying and exposure to harmful content.
The study has significant limitations. Its design does not allow causal conclusions, and the associations at age 15 could work in either direction. Only time was measured, not content, while reports came from parents at the younger ages and from the teenagers themselves at 15, with difficulties rated by parents at all ages. Families from deprived areas, younger mothers and single-parent households were more likely to drop out of the study, and few participants came from ethnic minorities, limiting how widely the findings can be generalized.
Most of the data were collected before the COVID-19 pandemic and before newer formats such as short videos became widespread, so they may not fully reflect children's digital lives today. Even so, the research adds a cautious piece of evidence to the debate: screen time alone does not appear to consistently explain psychosocial difficulties, and the quality of use may matter more than the quantity.
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