JPediatr(RioJ).2015;91(4):318---319
www.jped.com.br
EDITORIAL
The
social---ecological
context
of
media
use
and
school
success
夽
,
夽夽
Contexto
socioecológico
do
uso
de
mídias
e
sucesso
escolar
Jenny
S.
Radesky
DevelopmentalBehavioralPediatrics,SchoolofMedicine,BostonUniversity,Boston,UnitedStates
Academic achievement is a crucial determinant of life course health. Academic achievement in adolescencenot only predicts job and financial success in adulthood, but recent evidence suggests that it may be associated with loweradultallostaticload1andbetterhealthstatus.2These
associationsmaybeduetotheimprovedemploymentand financial opportunities that high academic achievement allows, but there are likely other explanatory variables --- such as family functioning, child intellectual or self-regulationabilities,stressassociatedwithchronicpoverty, or premorbid mental health conditions, which influence both academic achievement and later outcomes. Regard-less,identificationofpotentiallymodifiablecontributorsto school achievement is worthwhile, asimproving a child’s academictrajectoryhasimportantlifecourserelevance.
A growing literature has examined physical activity as a predictor of school success, with good reason: laboratory-basedstudiessuggestthatboutsofhigh-intensity physical activity can improve immediate cognitive func-tioning,such as impulseinhibition and working memory.3
Although the evidence is less robust for long-term exer-cise habits improving executive functions,3 the benefits
maybepopulation-specific:recent evidencesuggeststhat
DOIoforiginalarticle:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jped.2014.11.002
夽 Please citethisarticle as:Radesky JS.The social---ecological
context of media use and school success. J Pediatr (Rio J).
2015;91:318---9.
夽夽
SeepaperbyAguilaretal.inpages339---45.
E-mail:[email protected]
childrenwithattentiondeficithyperactivitydisorder(ADHD) showbettercognitiveandbehavioralfunctioningwhen tak-ingpartininterventionsaimedatincreasingtheirphysical activity.4Whileagrowingliteraturehasshownpositive
asso-ciationsbetweenphysical fitnessandaspectsof academic achievement, manyof thesestudieshave beenlimited by their cross-sectional design and the potential for reverse causality. In other words, children with low grades may spendlongerontheirhomeworkeveryday,whichlimitstheir timeforengaginginphysical activity,ormaybetakenoff of sports teams by coaches or parents because of failing grades. Some children withlearning difficulties alsohave motorincoordination,whichisalsoassociatedwithlow aca-demicachievement5andmaymakethemmoreresistantto
engaging inregular physicalactivity.6 Finally,lack of
con-trolforimportantconfoundersleavesroomforexplanation ofobserved associationsby othervariables,suchas socio-economicstatus,psychosocialstress,orscreenmediause.
Aguilar et al.7 attempted to address these gaps in
knowledge byperforminga large,cross-sectional study of 12-year-oldschoolchildreninChile,findingthat cardiorespi-ratoryfunction(CRF)wassignificantlyrelatedtoacademic achievement, independentof socioeconomicconfounders. However,oncethevariabledailyhoursofscreenmediause wasaddedtothemultivariablemodel,associationsbetween CRFand academicattainment weremarkedlyattenuated, andnolongerstatisticallysignificant.Thisstronglysuggests thatscreenmediausecouldbetheexplanatorymechanism between a sedentary lifestyle and academic difficulties, potentially through displacement of exercise or learning-relatedactivities.Statistically,itisalsopossiblethatscreen mediauseandphysicalactivityaresonegativelycollinear
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jped.2015.04.001
Thesocial---ecologicalcontextofmediauseandschoolsuccess 319
that entering both in the multivariable model simulta-neously renders associations non-significant; it therefore wouldhavebeeninterestingtoassesswhetherdailyhoursof mediauseindependentlypredictedpooracademic achieve-ment inthis cohort.To address thecollinearity issue, the authors astutely stratified analyses by media use, finding that,withhighmediause(>2h/day), CRFwascompletely unrelated toacademic achievement. In low media users, CRFcontinuedtobeasignificantpredictorofgoodgrades. This finding is interesting, asit implies that the negative effectsofhighmediauseonschoolsuccessaresodominant thatotherprotectivefactors(i.e.,physicalactivityandCRF) losetheirstrength.
Alternatively, excessive media use habits may reflect parenting-related variables such as monitoring of child activities, or involvement in learning and school,8 which
themselves are strong drivers of academic success. This is an illustration of how child screen time habits (like mosthealth-relatedbehaviors,includingacademicsuccess)9
evolve withina multi-layered social---ecological context.10
At the level most proximal to the child, his/her temper-ament, learningstyle,self-regulation skills, and cognitive abilitiesinfluencehowtheyinteractwithscreenmediafrom theearliestages.Family-levelfactors,suchasmediausage by siblings and parents’ rules about time limits,content, andaccesstoscreenssimilarlyshapechildandadolescent mediausehabits,whicharealsoinfluencedbyaspectsofthe child’simmediatesocialenvironmentsuchaspeer relation-ships,levelofpovertyorstressinthehome,parentmental illness,andaccesstootheractivitiesorlearningresources (or,forthatmatter,physicalactivityopportunities).Onan ecologicallevel,mediausehabitsareshapedbythesafety ofthechild’sneighborhood,qualityofthechild’sschool(and thusthechild’sengagementwithteachersandtaught mate-rial),parentworkdemands,andtheculturalimportanceof mediauseasameansofsocialcapitalorconnection.These aspectsofthechild’ssocial---ecologicalcontextaredifficult toaccountforinepidemiologicstudiesforseveralreasons, includingmeasurementof culturalinfluences,necessityof data collection from multiple sources, and the intercon-nectednatureofsocial---ecologicalvariables,whichrequires complicatedstatisticalmodeling.
This theoreticalframeworkhasseveralimplicationsfor futureresearch.First,asscreenmediabecomemore perva-siveinthesocial---ecologicallayersof childhealththrough theuseofsmartphonesandtablets,itwillbeincreasingly important for studies to specifically assess these sources ofscreentime.Theirportabilityandinstantlyaccessibility increase thepotential thatscreen time replacesor inter-rupts physical activity, learning, social interactions, and sleep.Itisalsoimportanttotakemediamulti-taskinginto account,11whichoftenco-occurswithhomeworkand
there-foremayimpactacademicachievement.Finally, infuture studies,itisimportanttoincludechildrenwithspecial edu-cationneeds,whowereexcludedfromAguilaretal.’sstudy, toexamine whethertheyare differentially susceptibleto theeffectsofmediauseorphysicalactivity.4In
developmen-talbehavioralpediatricclinicalexperience,manychildren
withlearningdisabilities,highfunctioningautismspectrum disorder,andADHDdevelopexcessivemediausehabits, per-hapsbecausethesemedia---particularlyvideogames---offer anareaofpositivereinforcementorperceivedmasterythat academicsdonot.Mediausethereforerepresentsapossible windowforintervention,eithertoengagechildrenin learn-ingthrough evidence-basededucational digital resources, ortodecreaseexcessivemediahabitsbyproviding replace-mentactivitiesthatprovidethesamesenseofcompetence andmastery.
Conflicts
of
interest
Theauthordeclaresnoconflictsofinterest.
References
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