12 A Comprehensive Framework for Assessing Screen-Based Media Use in Young Children: Adapting the ScreenQ Measure for Broader Application

Abstract

Screen-based media use is increasingly prevalent among young children, posing various health and developmental risks. Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations on screen access, frequency, content, and co-viewing, a comprehensive and validated composite measure reflecting contemporary media use patterns has been lacking. This study addresses this gap by introducing and psychometrically assessing the ScreenQ, a novel 15-item parent-report measure designed to align with AAP recommendations. We employed Rasch methods and Spearman\'s $\rho$ correlations to evaluate the ScreenQ\'s properties. The measure was administered to 69 parent-child dyads, with children aged 36 to 63 months. Four established external criteria—Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Second Edition (CTOPP-2), Expressive Vocabulary Test, Second Edition (EVT-2), Get Ready to Read! (GRTR) and StimQ-P, which measures how much cognitive stimulation kids get at home, were used to check if the test is accurate.Our results show that the ScreenQ has solid measurement qualities. The scores tend to go down when kids have better skills in areas like thinking, talking, reading, and writing, or when their home environment offers more cognitive stimulation.These results show that ScreenQ could be a helpful tool for understanding how young kids use screens. It gives important information about how screen time relates to their development and what Parenting approaches look like.This research contributes to the understanding of media\'s impact on early childhood development and provides a foundation for future interventions and policy-making.