Background and objective: Screen media usage
increased substantially in children’s daily life. Parents
play an important role in their children’s screen time.
The objective of this study was to determine the
association of parental factors including parental
perception, parents’ behaviors regarding screen time
control of their children, and parents’ screen time
with child’s screen time.
Methods: A total of 300 pairs of parents and children
aged 2-5 years old from the Child Development
Center, Khon Kaen Municipality participated in this
cross-sectional analytical study. A self-response
questionnaire was use to collect information including
parental perception about child’s screen time,
parents’ behaviors regarding screen time control of
their children, parents’ behaviors regarding screen time
control of their children, screen time usage of children
and parents. The association between parental factors
and child’s screen time was analyzed using multiple
logistic regression.
Results: Majority of children (85.7%) and their parents
(83.3%) used the screen more than 1 hour/day. The
parental perception was classified as high and
moderate levels accounting for 58.7 and 40.6 %
respectively. Parents’ behaviors regarding screen time
control of children was at moderate and good levels,58.0% and 39.3% respectively. The variables which
statistically associated with child’s screen time > 1
hour/day were parental perception on obstacle to
control screen time of children at moderate-high
levels (ORadj 2.93, 95% CI: 1.22-7.05), parents’
behaviors regarding screen time control of children
at low-moderate level (ORadj 2.89, 95% CI: 1.29-6.53),
and parental screen time > 1 hour/day (ORadj 5.51,
95% CI: 2.57-11.83).
Conclusions: Most of the children used screen time
more than the recommended level (> 1 hour/ day).
The parents should be aware of the effect of screen
time usage of children and should avoid screen time
usage midst their children. Children should be
encouraged to have more physical activities to reduce
screen time use.