The interplay between digital media, shared book reading and sleeping problems in early language development

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to explore the impact of digital media (screen exposure and video calls) on children’s early language development by exploring its interrelationships with shared book reading and children’s sleeping problems. The cross-sectional data of 362 families with children aged 30 to 41 months old were collected and a structural equation analysis was used as a multivariate analysis technique to explore the complexity of the relationships among variables of interest. Screen exposure was significantly and negatively related to book reading and marginally and positively related to sleeping problems. The results indicated that screen exposure and video calls were not associated to children’s linguistic development; rather book reading was the main predictor. Maternal education was also a key factor on these interrelationships, as children from families in which the mother had a higher education degree spent less time with screens and were more exposed to shared book reading. The findings of this study provide additional insights on the relationship between digital media use and language development in the early years and highlight the importance of raising awareness among parents of the relevance of practices out of screens, such as book reading.