Excessive Screen Time in Childhood Linked to Binge-Eating Disorder

Children who spend more time looking at screens, including while watching television and engaging with social media, may be at risk of developing binge-eating disorder one year later, according to astudy published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.“Health care providers should assess for associations between excess screen time usage and binge eating, and advise about potential risks associated with excessive screen time,” wrote Jason Nagata, M.D., M.Sc., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues.Nagata and colleagues analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which included 11,025 children aged 9 to 10 years recruited from 21 sites across the United States. At baseline, children reported on the typical amount of time they spent on screens, including watching television or movies, streaming videos on platforms such as YouTube, playing video games, texting, video chatting, or social networking. At baseline and one year later, parents or caregivers completed the binge-eating disorder module of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia on behalf of the child.On average, children reported four hours of screen time a day, the majority of which was spent watching television or movies, playing video games, and streaming videos. The rate of participants who met the criteria for binge-eating disorder rose from 0.7% at baseline to 1.1% at follow-up.Each additional hour of total screen time a day...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: ABCD study binge eating binge-eating disorder children International Journal of Eating Disorders screen time television Source Type: research