Association between Screen Time and Lifestyle Habits among Upper Elementary School Children

Abstract

This cross-sectional study examined the link between screen time and lifestyle habits in upper elementary school children. It included 400 elementary schoolchildren studying in the fifth and sixth grades in elementary (187 boys, 213 girls, age: 10–12 y) in Japan. Gender, obesity index, physical fitness score, screen time, and lifestyle habits related to breakfast, midnight snacks, exercise, and sleep were the study items. Using logistic regression analysis, we examined lifestyle habits factors and screen time as the dependent and independent variables, respectively. We found that >3 h of screen time was significantly associated with increased odds of eating breakfast sometimes or never (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] 2.37 [1.05, 5.38]) and eating midnight snacks (2.72 [1.41, 5.23]). Additionally, the same factor significantly associated with <6 h of sleep (10.45 [2.78, 39.30]) and bedtime later than 10 pm (2.81 [1.43, 5.53]) and 11 pm (3.97 [1.95, 8.07]). These results hold true even after accounting for demographics, obesity index, and physical fitness score. Conversely, 2–3 h of screen time was significantly associated with sleep onset conditions (2.05 [1.17, 3.58]), whereas >3 h of screen time was not. Our results showed that increased screen time was associated with skipping breakfast, midnight snacks, sleep onset conditions, and less bedtime.