Part 1: Literature Review, Research Questions, and Operationalizing
Variables
Sarah Betancourt
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
420-002 Psychology & Christianity
April 15, 2025
Background
The digital era we are experiencing today has had the biggest impact among young children,
causing problematic behaviors and emotional problems to develop. Young children now have
easy access to devices like, phones, tv’s, tablets, gaming consuls and more. With this easy access
parents have become a little more reliant on technology to assist them in occupying a child.
Previous studies have discovered that excessive screen time (ST) has been linked to likelihood of
engaging in high-risk problem behaviors (Yu-ting et al., 2025). In addition to this, Bahadur &
Karaca (2023) discovered that children of unemployed mothers tend to have a high ST, then
children of working mothers. They also that maternal ST was positively correlated to
hyperactive/inattention in preschoolers. Furthermore, there are many other factors that go into ST
have negative effects, low education level of parents, low economic incomes, and single-parent
families are risk factors for hyperactive behavior (Wu et al., 2022). These findings prompt the
following research questions below:
Research Questions, Hypotheses, & Statistical Analyses
1. What is the relationship between screen time and behavior of children?
H1: There is a statistically significant relationship between screen time and negative
behavior.
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A1: correlation
2. How do screen time, child’s age, parental involvement, and socioeconomic status collectively
predict negative behavior in children?
H2: screen time, child’s age, parental involvement, and socioeconomic status significantly
predict negative behavior in children, with higher screen time and lower parental
involvement associated with increased negative behavior, controlling for age and SES.
A2: multiple linear regression
Operationalizing Variables
Variable 1
Construct Screen Time
Operationalization Average hours per day spent on screens,
reported by parents via questionnaire or time
diary
Type Independent
Scale of Measurement Ratio
Max (or values) 10 hours
Min 0
Mean 2.5 hours
SD 1.8 hours
Citation (in-text) (Liu et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2022; Suleman et
al., 2023)
Variable 2
Construct Negative Behavior
Operationalization Score on the Strengths and Difficulties
Questionnaire total difficulties scale, reported
by parents
Type Dependent
1
2
Scale of Measurement Interval
Max (or values) 40
Min 0
Mean 12.5
SD 5.2
Citation (in-text) (Liu et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2022; Yu-ting et
al., 2025)
Variable 3
Construct Childs Age
Operationalization Age in years, reported by parent at time of
data collection
Type Independent
Scale of Measurement Ratio
Max (or values) 10
Min 1
Mean 4,5
SD 2.3
Citation (in-text) (Wu et al., 2022; Yu-ting et al., 2025)
Variable 4
Construct Parent Involvement
Operationalization Score on a parental involvement scale
Type Independent
Scale of Measurement Ordinal
Max (or values) 5 (high involvement)
2
3
Min 1 (low involvement)
Mean 3.0
SD 1.0
Citation (in-text) (Bahadur & Karaca, 2023)
Variable 5
Construct Socioeconomic Status
Operationalization Composite score based on parental education
and income
Type Independent
Scale of Measurement Ordinal
Max (or values) 3
Min 1
Mean 2.0
SD 0.8
Citation (in-text) (Liu et al., 2021; Suleman et al., 2023)
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References
Liu, W., Wu, X., Huang, K., Yan, S., Ma, L., Cao, H., Gan, H., & Tao, F. (2021). Early
childhood screen time as a predictor of emotional and behavioral problems in children at 4
years: A birth cohort study in China. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 26(1).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12199-020-00926-w
Wu, J.-B., Yin, X.-N., Qiu, S.-Y., Wen, G.-M., Yang, W.-K., Zhang, J.-Y., Zhao, Y.-F., Wang, X.,
Hong, X.-B., Lu, D., & Jing, J. (2022). Association between screen time and hyperactive
behaviors in children under 3 years in China. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.977879
Suleman, M., Ume Sughra, Riaz, A., & Akbar, M. (2023a). Effect of screen time on behavior of
pre-schoolers in Islamabad. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 39(2).
https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.2.6883
Yu-ting, Y., Li-xiang, C., Miao, Y., Yong-wei, Y., & Ting, L. (2025). Excessive screen time and
problem behaviours among school-age children in Fujian, China: A cross-sectional study.
BMC Public Health, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21795-4
Bahadur, E., & Karaca, H. (2023). Growing concern; the relationship between screen time and
behavior problems in digital era. Medicine Science | International Medical Journal, 12(1),
204. https://doi.org/10.5455/medscience.2022.12.269
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