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Table 2 Summary of correlates

From: Screen time use in children under 3 years old: a systematic review of correlates

Variable type Variable Positive association Negative association No association Association (% of studies examining variable that support association) Consistency strength
Child biological and demographic factors       
  Sex [35]   [3, 4, 12, 14, 35, 36, 38, 43],[46] NA (9/10 = 90%) S*
  Child’s age [3, 4, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 23],[29, 33, 36, 39, 40, 42, 43] [37]a [12, 31] (+) (15/17 = 88%) S*
  Ethnicity/race (non-caucasian) [3, 4, 8, 15, 17]b[34, 43, 47], [17]c [14, 46] (+) (8/11 = 73%) S*
  First born    [4, 12, 36] NA (3/3 = 100%) S
  BMI [3, 36, 38, 43]    (+) (4/4 100%) S*
Family biological/demographic factors       
  Maternal age   [33, 38, 40] [12, 14, 34, 44] U (4/7 = 57%)  
  Maternal education   [4, 34, 36, 38, 43] [3, 12, 13, 15, 31, 44, 46] U (7/12 = 58%)  
  Paternal education   [15] [4, 14] NA (2/3 = 67%) M
  Parental education (data not disaggregated)   [3]   IN  
  Maternal employment (employed)    [4, 14, 34, 36, 44, 46] NA (6/6 = 100% S*
  Paternal employment (employed)    [4] IN  
  Household income   [17, 30, 32, 33, 43] [4, 14, 15, 31, 46] U (5/10 = 50%)  
  Maternal BMI (Obese) [44]    IN  
  Language (non-english speaking)   [17]c [12, 14, 43] NA (3/4 = 75%) S
  Mother non-US born [12]f   [12]g IN  
Family structure variables       
  Two parent household   [38] [12, 15, 43, 44, 46] NA (5/6 = 83%) S*
  Number of children in home   [15]d [14, 36, 43] NA (3/4 = 75%) S
Sociocultural/environmental factors       
  Cognitive stimulation at home (as measured by HOME or StimQ) [4]e [8, 38]   (−) (2/3 = 67%) S
  Distressed/depressed mother [30, 34, 38, 41, 45]   [4, 43, 44] (+) (5/8 = 63%) M*
  Non-parental child care   [4] [12, 14, 15, 38] NA (4/5 = 80%) S*
  Lives in urban area [36]h   [14] IN  
  Season (winter) [31]    IN  
  Television in bedroom [3, 46]    IN  
  Parent belief child enjoys TV [33, 40]    IN  
  Parent belief in educational value of TV [33, 46]    IN  
  Heavy TV use in the home (includes background television) [13]    IN  
  Shorter breastfeeding [43]    IN  
  TV viewing time of father [36]    IN  
  TV viewing time of mother [36, 43, 44]    (+) 3/3 = 100% S
  Time/content restrictions    [31] IN  
Behavioral factors       
  Daily sleep duration of child   [43]   IN  
  Infant crying duration [44]     
  Onset age of watching TV [4]    IN  
  1. a = background television; b = for children 12–23 months of English-speaking Latino mothers only, c = for children 24–35 months of Spanish-speaking, Latino mothers only, d = association only for 2 or more siblings; e = for infants 0–11 months, f = at 33 months only; g = at 21 months only; h = weekends only.
  2. (+) = positive association.
  3. (−) = negative association.
  4. NA = studies consistently report no association.
  5. U = Unclear association (fewer than 60% of studies support any association or non-association).
  6. (S) = Strong consistency (70-100% of studies support the reported association or non-association).
  7. (M) = Moderate consistency (60-70% of studies support the reported association or non-association).
  8. * = 4 or more studies support the given association/non-association.
  9. IN = inconclusive (variable not studied on 3 or more occasions).
  10. (Dennison et al., [3]), (Certain & Khan, [4]), (Mendolsohn et al., [8]), (Thompson & Christakis, [10]),(Tomopoulos et al., [11]), (Tomopoulos et al., [12]), (Vandewater et al., [13]), (Zimmerman & Christakis, [14]), (Zimmerman et al., [15]), (Thompson et al., [17]), (Linebarger, & Walker, [23]), (Anand & Krosnick, 2005[29]), (Bank et al., [30]), (Barr, et al., [31]), (Cheng, et al., [32]), (Dalzell, et al., [33]), (Horodynski et al., [34]), (Huston, et al., [35]), (Kourlaba et al., [36]), (LaPierre et al., [37]), (Lumeng et al., [38]), (Masur & Flynn, [40]), (McLearn et al., [41]), (Ruangdaraganon et al., [42]), (Schmit et al., [43]), (Thompson et al., [44]), (Thompson & Christakis, [45]), (Vandewater et al., [46]), (Flores et al., [47]).
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