Factors Associated With Communication-Based Sedentary Behaviors Among Youth: Are Talking on the Phone, Texting, and Instant Messaging New Sedentary Behaviors to be Concerned About?

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.02.012

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 47, Issue 3, September 2010, Pages 315-318

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.02.012 Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

Sedentary behavior research typically only examines screen time activities and not communication time activities, such as talking on the phone, texting, or instant messaging.

Methods

Data from 2,449 grade 5 to 8 students were used to examine factors associated with the time youth spent in communication-based sedentary behaviors.

Results

Screen time, physical activity, grade, and gender were associated with moderate and high communication time.

Discussion

Future research on sedentary behavior should include measures of communication time.

Section snippets

Methods

This cross-sectional study used self-reported data collected from a convenience sample of 2,449 grade 5 to 8 students attending 30 elementary schools (Ontario, Canada) as part of the PLAY-On study. Additional details about PLAY-On are available online (www.shapes.uwaterloo.ca/projects/PLAYON). Using active consent procedure, eligible students completed the questionnaire during class time. The University of Waterloo and appropriate School Board Ethics committees approved the study procedures.

Results

Demographic characteristics are presented in Table 1. The study sample was 47.4% (n = 1,152) male and 52.6% (n = 1,277) female. The majority of students (63.6%) reported less than 1 hour of communication time per day; females were more likely than males to report more communication time per day (χ² = 29.45, df = 2, p < .001). Students who reported high levels of communication time were also more likely to report high levels of screen time (χ² = 331.98, df = 4, p < .001) and be in higher grades

Discussion

Developing a better understanding of SB is critical for increasing PA levels and preventing and reducing obesity among youth. The present study identified that many students are involved in communication-based SB (but to a slightly lesser extent than screen-based SB), and that the level of communication time is positively associated with screen time, PA, and grade. These elementary school data suggest that efforts to reduce SB should also include behaviors which are not screen-based and provide

Acknowledgment

Data used in this analysis were drawn from the PLAY-ON project, funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario (grant awarded to S. Leatherdale). The project was conducted by the SHAPES team at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Leatherdale is a Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Population Studies. The Canadian Cancer Society provided funding to develop SHAPES, the system used to collect the PLAY-ON data.

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Selective mutism (SM) is an anxiety disorder categorized by a persistent failure to speak in specific situations. In an attempt to facilitate interaction with individuals with SM, other forms of communication (e.g. computer-mediated communication; CMC) are often tried. However, CMC is understudied in individuals with SM, while, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of CMC for education and social purposes only increased.
In this study, we explored CMC in 79 adolescents with either selective mutism (n = 34), or typical development (n = 45). All participants completed a survey concerning verbal and written CMC in three contexts (friends, family, and school).
Results showed that adolescents with SM used not only verbal but also written CMC less frequently than the comparison group across contexts. While the comparison group preferred Face-to-Face communication over CMC, adolescents with SM were divided, especially in the school context. With family and friends, the majority of the SM group preferred Face-to-Face communication, even though this provoked more feelings of tension than CMC for part of the group.
These findings support anecdotal reports that SM affects not only speech but extends to other communicative venues and includes written communication in many situations. This underlines the importance of addressing not just speaking behavior but also writing and CMC in the diagnostic evaluation and treatment plans for adolescents with SM.
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The aim of the present study was to analyze the associations of youths’ sedentary behavior (SB) with parents’ and siblings’ SB and physical activity (PA), as well as the associations of youths’ coparticipation with parents, siblings, and friends in PA and SB with youths’ SB.
The sample consisted of 1543 youths (12.02 ± 2.51 years; 788 boys) enrolled in the baseline cohort of the UP&DOWN study. SB was assessed by accelerometry and questionnaire. Participants reported the time spent by their parents and siblings watching television, playing videogames, surfing the Internet, sitting/resting, and doing PA. Further, participants reported coparticipation with parents, siblings, and friends in these activities. Linear mixed models, including school and city as random effects, were performed.
Parents’ television time was positively associated with youths’ screen-based SB. Coparticipation with friends in playing videogames (in boys) and in surfing the Internet (in girls) showed a positive association with screen-based SB and a negative association with educational-based SB. Moreover, coparticipation with siblings and friends in PA was inversely associated with accelerometer-based SB in boys and girls.
Our results emphasize the important role of social modeling in the development of sedentary lifestyles in youths. Interventions aimed at reducing health risk behaviors in youths could be more effective if they are oriented from a social perspective that involves their families and networks of their closest friends.
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Citation Excerpt :
Until now, most studies measuring ST have predominantly considered only TV and computer time, where computer time included both Internet surfing and video gaming (Mark et al., 2006; Atkin et al., 2014). It is important to not only segregate these individual ST behaviours, but also to account for communication-based ST behaviours such as texting, online messaging and emailing to capture the complete picture of youth ST accumulation in today's world (Leatherdale, 2010; Leatherdale & Harvey, 2015). In terms of interventions to minimize ST, PA plays a critical role because youth engagement in MVPA has not only been associated with lower total ST in youth, but also in the reduction in daily time available to engage in ST behaviours (Serrano-Sanchez et al., 2011; Fountaine et al., 2008).
Screen time in youth has been associated with a wide range of poor health outcomes. Evidence indicates the need to develop physical activity (PA) school policies and programs that are aimed at decreasing youth screen time behaviours. This study aims to understand the association between PA policies and programs embedded into the functioning of 89 schools across two provinces in Canada and multiple screen time behaviours.
As part of the COMPASS Study, a total of 44,861 youth aged between 13 and 18 years and belonging to 89 schools in two Canadian provinces completed a validated questionnaire for health behaviours and outcomes data. PA policies and programs were measured using the School Policies and Practices Questionnaire, completed by the relevant school administrator. Participation in before-school, noon hour, or after-school intramural programs, participation in varsity sports, and access to indoor areas of PA during non-instructional time, was associated with significantly lower multiple screen time behaviours across both provinces. With exposure to multiple electronic and digital devices only predicted to increase among youth in the future, there is a need to conceptualize and integrate school-based screen time reducing PA policies and programs into the regular functioning of the schools.
An exploratory study of time spent with interactive technology and body mass among young adults
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For example, several studies have reported positive relations between time spent using media and technology (i.e., television, computer use, cell phones, video games) and Body Mass Index (BMI) scores among children and adolescents. These studies have assumed that the use of media and technology promotes sedentary behavior and therefore, the time that one devotes to media and technology may contribute to increases in BMI among children and adolescents (Arora et al., 2013; Crawford, Jeffery, & French, 1999; Leatherdale, 2010; Proctor et al., 2003). Few studies have investigated the role that technology plays in BMI among young adults (see Kuhlmann, 2013; Mamun, O’Callaghan, Williams, & Najman, 2013).
Young adulthood (18–25 years old) is a risky time period for the development of obesity and is an understudied population in terms of identifying weight-related determinates. Previous research has identified correlations between Body Mass Index (BMI) and sedentary behaviors, including television, among children and adolescents. Young adults have an affinity for interactive technologies (i.e., email, cell phones, social networking and video chat), but at present no studies have investigated the association between BMI and interactive technologies. A major contribution from this study was the conceptualization of time spent with interactive technology as the dependent variable and Body Mass Index and the independent variable. Young adults (N = 802) reported their height, weight, and weekly time spent with interactive technology. Obese participants reported significantly more time spent with email, social networking, video chat, and total technology time than their non-obese peers. It is proposed that obese young adults use interactive technologies more frequently than non-obese young adults because interactive technologies facilitate unobtrusive interactions and a mechanism to control social interactions.
Ecological Momentary Assessment of Urban Adolescents' Technology Use and Cravings for Unhealthy Snacks and Drinks: Differences by Ethnicity and Sex
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Citation Excerpt :
We also found a greater relationship between phone messaging and cravings for salty/fatty snacks and sweet snacks among Hispanic adolescents. Youths’ use of handheld communication devices has recently gained attention as a potentially problematic sedentary behavior.10 Time spent texting and messaging, for example, has recently increased substantially for adolescents in general and Latino adolescents in particular.35
Adolescents’ technology use is generally associated with food cravings, but it is not clear whether specific types of technology elicit particular types of cravings or whether personal characteristics play a role in these associations.
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Urban adolescents (N=158) aged 14 to 17 years provided momentary information about their technology use and food cravings during the course of 1 week and completed survey reports of their personal characteristics. We used multilevel modeling to determine momentary associations and interactions.
Non-Hispanic adolescents showed stronger associations between television exposure and cravings for sweet snacks, salty snacks, and sweetened drinks. Being Hispanic was associated with stronger associations between phone messaging and cravings for sweet snacks, salty snacks, and sweetened drinks. Males showed stronger associations between video game use and salty snack cravings.
As the public health field continues to monitor the effects of technology use on adolescents’ eating and overall health, it will be important to determine the extent to which these groups are differentially affected by different forms of technology.
Gender and texting: Masculinity, femininity, and gender role ideology
2014, Computers in Human Behavior
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Gender transcendence was a negative predictor, F(1, 125) = 4.84, p = .03, adjusted r2 = .03, β = −.19, of vulgar abbreviation use in women. Even though previous research (Hofferth & Moon, 2012; Leatherdale, 2010; Lenhart, 2012; Rosen et al., 2010; Tossell et al., 2012) reported that females, compared to males, texted more frequently and used more emoticons, participant sex did not significantly predict these variables in this study. This may have been partially due to the relatively small number of males, compared to females, in our sample as well as possible greater male–female similarity in a college sample of students enrolled in a lifespan development class.
Texting, although one of the newer forms of computer-mediated communication, has become very popular, especially among teens. This research, using self-report measures, explored college students’ perceptions of texting, including texting’s leading to relationship conflict and interfering with classes, as well as how attitudes towards texting were related to masculinity, femininity, and gender-linked (traditional)/gender-transcendent (nontraditional) attitudes. Our participants (n = 183) more frequently used emoticons than abbreviations, especially vulgar abbreviations. Over 70% reported at least minimal texting interference with classes/college preparation, and over 60% indicated that their own or their significant other’s texting contributed to relationship conflict. The only significant male–female difference was in sexually explicit messages received, but positive associations were found between more traditional gendered attitudes and texting interfering with studying/school, with relationship conflict, and, for men only, “sexting” and using vulgar abbreviations. Other findings included gender transcendence being negatively associated with the reported number of messages sent as well as being bothered by texting; femininity also predicted frequency of emoticon use. Our research suggests that individual differences in texting may be related to variables associated with gendered self-perceptions and traditional gender roles.

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Adolescent health briefFactors Associated With Communication-Based Sedentary Behaviors Among Youth: Are Talking on the Phone, Texting, and Instant Messaging New Sedentary Behaviors to be Concerned About?

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Discussion

Section snippets

Methods

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgment

J Adolesc Health

Nutr Metab Cardiovas Dis

Am J Prev Med

A descriptive epidemiology of screen-based media use in youth: A review and critique

J Adolesc

Overweight in children and adolescents associated with TV viewing and parental weight: Project HeartBeat!

Am J Prev Med

Adolescent health brief
Factors Associated With Communication-Based Sedentary Behaviors Among Youth: Are Talking on the Phone, Texting, and Instant Messaging New Sedentary Behaviors to be Concerned About?