İki Yaşından Küçük Çocuklarda Ekran Maruziyeti Buna Etki Eden Bazı Ailesel Faktörler ve Anne Beck Depresyon Ölçeği ile Olan İlişkisi

Abstract

GÜNEL KARABURUN İ. E., The Factors Affecting Screen Exposure In Babies Under Two Years And Its Relationship With The Beck Mother Depression Scale, Child Health and Diseases Thesis, Ankara, 2021. The biopsychosocial development of a child occurs at the fastest in the first 2 years of life . Especially central nervous system has the main development during this period of life. Majority of brain growth and development takes place after birth. The newborn brain at 2-4 weeks of age is approximately 36 % the size of an adult brain. the brain grows to about 70 % of its adult size by 1 year of age and to about 80 % of adult size by age 2 years. Early postnatal experiences play a major role in shaping the functional capacity of the neural systems responsible for mediating our cognitive, emotional, social and physiological functions. healthy development of the neural systems which allows optimal social and emotional functioning depends upon attentive, interactive, nurturing caregiving in early life. Therefore exposure to media is not recommended for children before the age of two. Screen time is effected by numerous factors such as personal and interpersonal relations, physical environment and politics. It is important to know these factors in order to fully guide parents to make necessary interventions on children’s media use. In literature, there are few studies that focus on children’s exposure to media, usage of mobile devices and discuss factors effecting on this situation. In our study, we collected data from multiple question surveys and Beck Depression Inventories that has been done to 424 mothers who had children younger than 2 years old and applied to Hacettepe University İhsan Doğramacı Children’s Hospital for their children’s follow-ups between 20.12.2019-20.12.2020. Our aim in this study was to determine the media and mobile device exposure to children between 0-24 months old , the environmental factors (demographic, parental features etc. ) affecting this exposure rate. Additionally, we aimed to evaluate the attitudes of parents towards screen exposure and the possible reasons behind these. We used 47 questioned survey and Beck Depression Inventory in order to collect the data. We analysed our data by using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 23). In case of the education status of the mother is equal to or below high school, the ratio of the screen exposure of the baby increased. In addition, if the household members number is equal to or more than 4, the ratio of the screen exposure of the baby increased significantly when we compare the exposure time of the baby in a family with 3 household members. Moreover, in case of there is any sibling or child present in the family, the screen exposure of the baby increased. It is also shown in the study that when the mother is working in a job, the screen exposure of the baby rises accordingly. The screen exposure of the baby increased when only the mother is taking care of the baby compared to the mother and others being the caregivers together. When we look at the daily screen time the baby is exposed, it is more if mother is the caregiver alone compared to the mother and the others being the caregivers together. Lastly, the daily screen exposure of the baby increased if the mother has moderate or severe depression compared to having minimal or mild depression. With our study, it was shown that the exposure to screen increases as the age of the child rises. Maternal education status, primary caregiver of the baby, household population and whether there was a sibling at home were determined as factors affecting screen exposure. On the other hand, it was observed that maternal working status, parents' media usage time, primary caregiver of the baby and maternal depression are the factors affecting the time of screen exposure. With the results of our study, we believe that measures can be taken by the parents based on these factors, which we found to have an effect on screen exposure, in order to reduce the screen exposure of children in the 0-24 month age group.