Association between Screen Time and Sociodemographic Factors, Physical Activity, and BMI among Children in Six European Countries (Feel4Diabetes): A Cross-Sectional Study
Sándor Istvánné Radó,
Mónika Molnár,
Róbert Széll,
Gergő József Szőllősi,
Viktória Törő,
Bashar Shehab,
Yannis Manios,
Costas Anastasiou,
Violeta Iotova,
Kaloyan Tsochev,
Nevena Chakarova,
Natalia Giménez-Legarre,
Maria Luisa Miguel Berges,
Peter E. H. Schwarz,
Imre Rurik,
Attila Sárváry
Affiliations
Sándor Istvánné Radó
Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen, 4400 Nyíregyháza, Hungary
Mónika Molnár
Department of Integrative Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen, 4400 Nyíregyháza, Hungary
Róbert Széll
Department of Integrative Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen, 4400 Nyíregyháza, Hungary
Gergő József Szőllősi
Coordination Center of Social Sciences, Faculty of Economy, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Viktória Törő
Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen, 4400 Nyíregyháza, Hungary
Bashar Shehab
Doctoral School of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Yannis Manios
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Science & Education, Harokopio University, 176 76 Athens, Greece
Costas Anastasiou
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Science & Education, Harokopio University, 176 76 Athens, Greece
Violeta Iotova
Department of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics, Medical University of Varna, 9002 Varna, Bulgaria
Kaloyan Tsochev
Department of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics, Medical University of Varna, 9002 Varna, Bulgaria
Nevena Chakarova
Department of Endocrinology, Medical University of Sofia, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria
Natalia Giménez-Legarre
GENUD (Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development) Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Maria Luisa Miguel Berges
GENUD (Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development) Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Peter E. H. Schwarz
International Diabetes Federation, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technical University of Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany
Imre Rurik
Department of Family Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary
Attila Sárváry
Department of Integrative Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen, 4400 Nyíregyháza, Hungary
Screen time among children in most European countries is notably high and is influenced by various sociodemographic and other factors. Our study aimed to explore the associations between parents’ sociodemographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, body mass index (BMI), physical activity, risk status for type 2 diabetes, and their children’s BMI, physical activity, and screen time. The data were sourced from the 2016 Feel4Diabetes study, involving 12,280 parents and 12,211 children aged 6–9 years (average age 8.21 years) in a cross-sectional study design. We used a logistic regression model to identify potential factors associated with children’s screen time. The results showed that mothers with tertiary education (OR = 0.64; 95%CI = 0.49–0.82; p p = 0.033), and families with higher incomes (middle–OR = 0.85; 95%CI = 0.75–0.97; p = 0.014; high–OR = 0.8; 95%CI = 0.69–0.93; p = 0.003) were associated with a decreased chance of children spending more than 2 h/day in front of the screen. In contrast, maternal overweight/obesity (OR = 1.15; 95%CI = 1.03–1.29; p = 0.013) and lower physical activity in children were linked to an increased likelihood of more than 2 h of screen time per day. Our findings suggest that targeted interventions should be developed to mitigate excessive screen time, particularly focusing on low-income families and mothers with low educational levels.
