Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Aug;83(8):573-81.
doi: 10.1111/josh.12067.

The association of screen time, television in the bedroom, and obesity among school-aged youth: 2007 National Survey of Children's Health

Holly Wethington  1 , Liping Pan, Bettylou Sherry
Affiliations

The association of screen time, television in the bedroom, and obesity among school-aged youth: 2007 National Survey of Children's Health

Holly Wethington et al. J Sch Health. 2013 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Among school-aged youth, we sought to identify characteristics associated with (1) exceeding screen time recommendations (ie, television/videos/video games more than 2 hours/weekday), and (2) exceeding screen time recommendations, the presence of a television in the bedroom, and obesity.

Methods: Using 2007 National Survey of Children's Health data, we used multivariable logistic regression to identify sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics associated with excessive screen time among 6 to 11- and 12 to 17-year-olds on a typical weekday. For 12 to 17-year-olds only, we used logistic regression to examine the odds of obesity using the same variables as above, with the addition of screen time.

Results: Overall, 20.8% of 6 to 11-year-olds and 26.1% of 12 to 17-year-olds had excessive screen time. For both age groups, having a bedroom TV was significantly associated with excessive screen time. For the older age group, the dual scenario of excessive screen time with a bedroom TV had the strongest association with obesity (OR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.9, 3.2).

Conclusions: Given the similar risk factors for excess screen time and having a TV in the bedroom, a public health challenge exists to design interventions to reduce screen time among school-aged youth.

Keywords: child and adolescent health; nutrition and diet; physical fitness and sport; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999–2010. JAMA. 2012;307(5):483–490. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Janssen I, Katzmarzyk PT, Srinivasan SR, et al. Utility of childhood BMI in the prediction of adulthood disease: comparison of national and international references. Obes Res. 2005;13(6):1106–1115. - PubMed
    1. Freedman DS, Dietz WH, Srinivasan S, Berenson GS. The relation of overweight to cardiovascular risk factors among children and adolescents: the Bogalusa Heart Study. Pediatrics. 1999;103:1175–1182. - PubMed
    1. Guo SS, Wu W, Chumlea WC, Roche AF. Predicting overweight and obesity in adulthood from body mass index values in childhood and adolescence. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002;76:653–658. - PubMed
    1. Whitaker RC, Wright JA, Pepe MS, Seidel KD, Dietz WH. Predicting obesity in young adulthood from childhood and parental obesity. N Engl J Med. 1997;337(13):869–873. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources