Screen time exposure and academic performance, anxiety, and behavioral problems among school children

Mohammad Sidiq^#^{1

2}, Balamurugan Janakiraman³, Faizan Kashoo⁴, Rayan Jastania⁵, Abdullah Ibrahim Alhusayni⁶, Abdullah Alzahrani⁶, Aksh Chahal^{1

2}, Alagappan Thiyagarajan⁷, Imran Khan⁸, Chandan Kumar¹, Rajkumar Krishnan Vasanthi⁹, Fahad Alanazi¹⁰, Mehrunnisha Ahmad¹¹, Chhavi Arora Sehgal¹², Shabnam Khan¹², Mshari Alghadier^#¹³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiotherapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
² Galgotias Multi-Disciplinary Research and Development Cell (G-MRDC), Galgotias University, Greater Noida, UP, India.
³ SRM College of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁴ Department of Physical Therapy and Health Rehabilitation, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Al Majmaah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medical Rehabilitation Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Health Rehabilitation, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Shaqra University, Shaqra, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Physiotherapy, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Chennai, India.
⁸ Department of Physiotherapy, University of Engineering and Management, Jaipur, India.
⁹ Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, INTI International University, Nilai, Malaysia.
¹⁰ Department of Physical Therapy and Health Rehabilitation, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Jouf University, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ College of Nursing, Majmaah University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹² Centre for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India.
¹³ Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40352281
PMCID: PMC12066102
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.19409

Screen time exposure and academic performance, anxiety, and behavioral problems among school children

Mohammad Sidiq et al. PeerJ. 2025.

. 2025 May 8:13:e19409.

doi: 10.7717/peerj.19409. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiotherapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
² Galgotias Multi-Disciplinary Research and Development Cell (G-MRDC), Galgotias University, Greater Noida, UP, India.
³ SRM College of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁴ Department of Physical Therapy and Health Rehabilitation, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Al Majmaah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medical Rehabilitation Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Health Rehabilitation, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Shaqra University, Shaqra, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Physiotherapy, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Chennai, India.
⁸ Department of Physiotherapy, University of Engineering and Management, Jaipur, India.
⁹ Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, INTI International University, Nilai, Malaysia.
¹⁰ Department of Physical Therapy and Health Rehabilitation, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Jouf University, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ College of Nursing, Majmaah University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹² Centre for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India.
¹³ Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 40352281
PMCID: PMC12066102
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.19409

Abstract

Background: The growth of the digital landscape has surely outpaced research on the effects of screen media on the health, learning, and development of children. The potential risk-to-benefit ratio of screen media exposure for education and entertainment purposes warrants further exploration. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationships between screen time and academic performance, anxiety, and outdoor playing among school children in India.

Methods: A total of 537 parents responded to this online survey and reported approximately 537 Indian school children (mean age 10.9 years) from five schools. Data was collected using an e-questionnaire which consisted of a socio-demographic domain, recreational activities, self-reported physical measures, academic performance, information related to children's screen time, the Spence Children Anxiety Scale (SCAS), and the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (parent version) instruments. We employed multivariate linear regression models to estimate the association between children's screen time and the predictor variables with 0.05 alpha as level of significance.

Results: The mean screen time was 3.06 ± 1.22 h/day, the average duration of outdoor play per week was 11.23 ± 4.1 h, and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 18.2 ± 3.2. Screen time (h) in a typical week was positively correlated with BMI, the SCAS anxiety score, and behavioral problems and negatively correlated with academic performance. School children's screen time was a predictor of their BMI, behavioral symptoms, and academic performance according to the linear regression analysis.

Conclusion: Our findings pointed out that screen time was associated with increased BMI, behavioral problems and poor academic performance. These insights shall be used for development of targeted tailored interventions and strategies to reduce childhood obesity related to screen time. Further research is necessary to rule out the influence of other intricate factors, such as sleep, parental practices, family connectedness, and supervision of parents. The careful use of digital media must serve as a positive force in children's educational and developmental trajectories.

Keywords: Academic performance; Anxiety; Behavior pattern; School children; Screen time.

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Conflict of interest statement

Faizan Kashoo is an Academic Editor for PeerJ.

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Screen time exposure and academic performance, anxiety, and behavioral problems among school children

Affiliations

Screen time exposure and academic performance, anxiety, and behavioral problems among school children

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical