Excessive sedentary screen time is associated with many negative health outcomes therefore, identification of factors that influence screen time is needed to reduce excessive screen time among youth. The current analysis explored whether depression, anxiety, ADHD, being bullied, or difficulty making friends were associated with excessive screen time.

Data was obtained from the National Survey of Children’s Health for 51,156 US children and adolescents aged 6-17 years old in 2016 and 2017. Three models using complex samples, binary logistic regression analyses tested whether the independent variables (current depression, current anxiety, ADHD, difficulty making friends, and experienced bullying) were significantly associated with probability of excessive screen time for each of three screen time outcomes (TV-related, electronics-related, combined TV-related and electronics-related).

A lot of difficulty making friends was significantly associated with the probability of engaging in excessive TV-related, electronics-related, and combined TV- and electronics-related screen time. Additionally, a little difficulty making friends was significantly associated with the probability of excessive combined TV- and electronics-related screen time. Current depression was significantly associated with probability of engaging in excessive electronics-related screen time only. Lastly, experienced bullying was significantly associated with probability of excessive electronics-related and combined TV and electronics-related screen time.

More research should be conducted on social and cultural factors that affect ability to make friends in order to better understand the relationship between current depression and excessive screen time. It is imperative to reduce the amount of screen time youth engage in as a means to prevent negative associated health outcomes and thus, this study highlights possible factors to be further explored as influencers on screen time.