Associação entre o tempo de uso de mídias eletrônicas e problemas internalizantes em crianças de 7 a 11 anos durante a pandemia da covid-19

• Autor(a) principal: Santos, Rosangela dos
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações do Mackenzie
• Texto Completo: https://dspace.mackenzie.br/handle/10899/28584
• topic: mídias eletrônicas; ; ;; problemas internalizantes; crianças; covid-19; CNPQ::CIENCIAS HUMANAS::PSICOLOGIA

The literature on the impacts of the use of electronic media by children is controversial. Although benefits are associated with controlled and oriented use, there is great concern about its impact on children's mental health. This concern was amplified in the context of social isolation recommended as a measure to control the contagion of COVID-19. In this context, in which children carry out school activities using electronic media and the contact with their families and peers is also through these same devices, anxiety and depression rates have increased in all age groups. Thus, considering the situation experienced due to the pandemic, the present study aimed at verifying the association between the time spent with electronic media and internalizing problems, in children aged 7 to 11 years, during social isolation, considering the parents' perspective. The sample was obtained by convenience criterion using a link to complete the Media Activities Form-Parent, the Child Behavior Checklist - CBCL/6-18, and an sociodemographic quetionnaire, from 06/10/2020 to 08/10/2020. Altogether, 421 parents or guardians completed the form; however, with the application of exclusion criteria (incomplete questionnaires, diagnosis of some genetic syndrome or neurodevelopmental disorder, sending duplicate answers and declaring that the family was not in social isolation), the final sample consisted of 277 parents, 143 of boys (mean age 8.99 years, standard deviation 1.36 years) and 134 girls (mean age 9.02 years, standard deviation 1.41 years). Inferencial statistical analyzes were implemented to I) assess the difference in the frequency of internalizing problems presented by boys and girls; II) check for which types of electronic media the time of use is associated with internalizing problems, considering sex and agegroup (7 to 9 years vs. 10 to 11 years). The results indicated that boys presented more internalizing problems than girls and that there is a significant positive correlation between internalizing problems and the time of using electronic media, especially for girls. For boys, the associations between time spent playing videogames and the presence of somatic complaints stand out, while for girls, internalizing problems were associated with time spent creating content for blogs and websites, watching videos, and playing videogames. No significant correlations were found between the time spent using media for school activities and internalizing problems. The fact that children who use electronic media for longer time are more likely to be those who also have more internalizing problems corroborates the findings of the association between depression and screen time. The findings contribute to the body of evidente on the topic of child mental health and the use of electronic media in the context of the pandemic.