Written evidence submitted by
Dr Anesa Hosein (Lecturer in Higher Education, University of Surrey) (SMH0165)
Summary
- This submission addresses:
The key findings are:
- There is a weak but significant association between screen use and mental health and this appears to be a stable relationship. This study replicates another by researchers who used adolescents from 20141.
- Light screen use (1-3 hrs/ week) was associated with good mental health
- Current screen time use does not appear to have any long-term effect on mental health (2 years in the future)
- Unlike screen time spent, the current type of screen use (for example, receiving offensive messages) was associated with long-term mental health (2 years in the future)
The main recommendations are:
- Recommendation 1: A guideline for good mental health should be to have light screen use with respect to video games (around 1-3 hrs/week)
- Recommendation 2: Further research into why light screen use is better for mental health with respect to video games
- Recommendation 3: Further longitudinal research on how the current use of social media and screen activities can affect future mental and physical health
Introduction
- Dr Anesa Hosein is a lecturer in Higher Education who has researched the use of technology of students and adolescents. She has used both longitudinal and cross-sectional studies to investigate technological issues and student outcomes, namely with the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) and an ESRC project on the Net Generation. She is submitting this evidence using the LSYPE dataset as it can provide both longitudinal and cross-sectional evidence on this issue.
- Previous research on-screen use for video games has been mixed. For example, heavy use of video games amongst college students has been associated with more risky behaviour and lower academic outcomes2-4. However, heavy screen use of young people on video games has also been associated with higher computer literacy5 and a higher likelihood of girls doing a physical science, technology, engineering and mathematics (PSTEM) degree6. This submission presents the finding from the LSYPE dataset (2004-2010), using data mainly from 2005, on the screen use of young people on video games. Whilst this data is over a decade old, the findings can be extrapolated to the current day, where screen use has increased.
Data
- The LSYPE is a dataset that followed over 15000 young people in the UK for seven years. In 2005, adolescents’ (14-15 years old) general mental health and well-being was recorded through the general health questionnaire (GHQ-12). Adolescents were grouped into having good mental health (score of 0), average mental health (score of 1-3) and poor mental health (score of 4 or more).
- Further, adolescents’ screen use with regards to time spent on video games played at home were recorded. From this, an average number of hours spent per week were calculated6. The time spent on gaming was classified into four groups: no screen use (0 hrs/ week); light screen use (1-3 hrs/ week); moderate screen use (4-8 hrs/ week) and heavy screen use (more than 9hrs/ week).
Findings
- In 2005, around 6% of female adolescents were heavy screen users (more than 9 hrs/ week) in contrast to 24% of male adolescents. An analysis of screen use and mental health suggested that whilst there is a significant association between mental health and screen use time for both female and male adolescents, it was a weak association.
- Of all the users, light screen users were the least likely to have poor mental health (see Figure 1) in both female and male adolescents. This demonstrates that time spent on screen use is not necessarily related to poor health. Further, these results mirror the findings by Przybylski and Weinstein1 for 15 year olds in England in 2014, in that poor mental health and screen use has a quadratic relationship (i.e. a u-shape), that is, low levels of screen use is better for mental health than no screen use or moderate and heavy screen use. This implies that the relationship between screen use and mental health and well-being has not changed in ten years and may be a stable relationship.
Figure 1: Association of mental health and screen use
- Further, current time spent on screen use does not appear to have any association with future mental health; that is, no relationship was found between a) screen use when adolescents were 13-14 years old and their mental health at 14-15 years old and b) screen use at 14-15 years old and their mental health when they were 16-17 years old. This suggests that time spent on screen use may not have a long-term effect on mental health and well-being.
- However, it is possible that the type of activity that the adolescent engages in during their screen time can affect their mental health and well-being rather than the time spent. For example, 14-15 year old adolescents (both male and female) who received a text or a message that was hurtful or an offensive in the LSYPE dataset were 1.4 times more likely to have poor mental health than good mental health. For female adolescents, the association between this hurtful or offensive text message and their mental health persisted until they were 16-17 years old but not for male adolescents.
Recommendations
- Recommendation 1: Guideline for Screen Use. The guideline for time spent on screen for video games should be between 1-3 hours per week as it is associated with higher levels of mental health.
- Recommendation 2: Further research into why light screen use is better for mental health. The reasons as to why light screen use for video gaming may be associated with better health needs further investigation, particularly whether it is related to cognitive behaviours or the type of video games that adolescents engage with. It is possible that the time spent on video games may act as a de-stressor for adolescents and it may provide the adolescents’ brain with a break from other activities. Or it may be that those with light screen use, use their screen time in different ways to heavy screen users, that is, they may use it for different types of games that do not lower mental health and well-being.
- Recommendation 3: Further research into how the current use of social media and screens can affect long-term mental health. The current longitudinal studies have focused on the amount of time spent on social media and screens and the type of applications used by young people. However, these studies rarely record how the activities that the adolescents use the applications for, for example, receiving offensive messages; mental health exercise; physical health exercise. Collecting this data in the current cohort and panel studies can provide more insight into how these activities are affecting the mental and physical health of young persons in the future.
July 2018