Associations between Parents' Digital Media Habits, Engagement, Awareness, and Movement Guidelines among Preschool-Age Children: International Ipreschooler Surveillance Study

Hongzhi Guo; Jiameng Ma; Terence Buan Kiong Chua; Lee Yong Tay; Michael Yong Hwa Chia; Hyunshik Kim

doi:10.3390/ijerph191710484

Associations between Parents' Digital Media Habits, Engagement, Awareness, and Movement Guidelines among Preschool-Age Children: International Ipreschooler Surveillance Study

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 23;19(17):10484. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710484.

Authors

Hongzhi Guo¹, Jiameng Ma², Terence Buan Kiong Chua³, Lee Yong Tay³, Michael Yong Hwa Chia³, Hyunshik Kim²

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa 169-8050, Japan.
² Faculty of Sports Science, Sendai University, Shibata 989-1693, Japan.
³ National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637616, Singapore.

Abstract

The 24-hour movement guidelines (24-h MG) recommend behaviors (physical activity, screen time, sleep) to aid appropriate physical and mental development in early childhood. This research examined parents' digital media habits (DMH), engagement (DME), and awareness (DMA) among parents in relation to their preschool-aged children's 24-h MG in Japan and identified and compared the modifiable determinants of adherence to 24-h MG in urban and rural regions. This cross-sectional study included 867 participants and data were obtained from the International Ipreschooler Surveillance Study Among Asians and OtheRs (IISSAAR). The results revealed that adherence to weekend screen time recommendations and weekday sleep duration were higher in the urban region. The parents' digital media variables that predicted moderate-intensity to vigorous-intensity physical activity among preschool-aged children were parents' DME and DMA in the urban regions and parents' DME in the rural regions. The children's screen time was significantly associated with parents' DMH, DME, and DMA in the urban regions and with parents' DMH and DMA in the rural regions (p < 0.005, p < 0.001, respectively). This study confirmed that parents' DMH, DME, and DMA are strong predictors of adherence to 24-h MG among preschool-aged children living in both rural and urban regions in Japan.

Keywords: 24-h movement guidelines; IISSAAR; digital media variables; physical activity; preschool children; screen time; sleep duration.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child, Preschool
Cross-Sectional Studies
Habits*
Humans
Internet*
Parents*
Screen Time*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP 21K11555, and the International Joint Research Project in Sendai University (Grant Number: 2018-0025). This work is part of a larger multinational study called International Ipreschooler Surveillance Study Among Asians and OtheRs (IISSAAR) which is funded and supported by the Ministry of Education, Singapore (OER 29/19 MCYH).