Science Longer TV time linked to developmental delays

Researchers utilized the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS) conducted by the Ministry of the Environment since fiscal 2010 on 100,000 pairs of parents and children across Japan. They examined data obtained from 57,980 infants as they grew from age 1 to 3. The team, led by Chiba University, analyzed the relationship between the amount of time infants spent watching TV or DVDs per day and their development one year later in five areas: communication skills, physical activity, manual dexterity, ability to understand parental instructions, and skills necessary for daily life. Due to individual differences among young children, random intercept cross-lagged panel models were used to adjust for these differences. The results showed that the longer the screen time, the greater the developmental delay in communication skills at ages 1 to 2 and in physical exercise, manual dexterity, and skills necessary for daily life at ages 2 to 3. Conversely, infants with higher development of communication skills among the five items were found to have shorter viewing times at ages 1 to 2 and 2 to 3.

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