Screen-viewing and the home TV environment: The European Youth Heart Study

Objective Examine if home environmental factors are associated with screen-viewing. Methods Data are for 2670, 3rd and 9th grade participants in Denmark, Portugal, Estonia and Norway collected between 1997 and 2000. Outcomes were spending > 2 h after-school watching television (TV) and > 1 h per day playing computer games. Child Autonomy and the home TV Environment were exposures. Results Each unit increase in Child Autonomy was associated with 9% increase in risk of watching more than 2 h of TV per day after school and a 19% increase in risk of spending more than an hour per day playing computer games. TV Environment was associated with a 31% per unit increase in risk of watching > 2 h of TV after school and 11% increase in risk of spending > 1 h playing computer games. Conclusions A family environment in which after-school TV viewing is part of the home culture and homes where children have more autonomy over their own behavior are associated with an increased risk of watching > 2 h of TV per day after school and spending more > 1 h per day playing computer games. The home screen-viewing environment and Child Autonomy may be malleable targets for changing screen-viewing.