Cited by 109Child Development and Digital TechnologyPhysical Activity and HealthImpact of Technology on Adolescents

Reducing youth screen time: Qualitative metasynthesis of findings on barriers and facilitators.

Open access
Minges, Karl E., Owen, Neville, Salmon, Jo, Chao, Ariana, Dunstan, David W., Whittemore, Robin·2015·Health Psychology

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: An integrated perspective on the relevant qualitative findings on the experience of screen time in youth can inform the development of hypotheses to be tested in future research and can guide the development of interventions to decrease sedentary behavior. The purpose of this qualitative metasynthesis was to explore parent, youth, and educational professionals' perceptions of barriers to, and facilitators of, reducing youth screen time. METHOD: Qualitative metasynthesis techniques were used to analyze and synthesize 15 qualitative studies of screen time among youth (11-18 years) meeting inclusion criteria. The phrases, quotes, and/or author interpretations (i.e., theme or subtheme) were recorded in a data display matrix to facilitate article comparisons. Codes were collapsed into 23 categories of similar conceptual meaning and 3 overarching themes were derived using thematic analysis procedures. RESULTS: Study sample sizes ranged from 6 to 270 participants from 6 countries. Data collection methods included focus groups (n = 6), interviews (n = 4), focus group and interviews (n = 4), and naturalistic observation (n = 1) with youth and/or parents. Data analysis techniques included thematic analysis (n = 9), content analysis (n = 3), grounded theory (n = 1), observation (n = 1), and interpretive phenomenological analysis (n = 1). Three thematic categories were identified: (a) youth's norms-screen time is an integral part of daily life, and facilitates opportunities for entertainment, social interaction, and escapism; (b) family dynamics and parental roles-parents are conflicted and send mixed messages about the appropriate uses and amounts of screen time; and, (c) resources and environment-engagement in screen time is dependent on school, community, neighborhood, and home environmental contexts. CONCLUSIONS: Screen time is an established norm in many youth cultures, presenting barriers to behavior change. Parents recognize the importance of reducing youth screen time, but model and promote engagement themselves. For youth and parents, mutually agreed rules, limits, and parental monitoring of screen time were perceived as likely to be effective.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/hea0000172

Cites

79 of 79 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Minges, K. E., Owen, N., Salmon, J., Chao, A., Dunstan, D. W., & Whittemore, R.
Affiliations
  • Yale University (US)
  • Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute (AU)
  • Deakin University (AU)
Venue
Health Psychology
Published
2015-04
Volume
34
Issue
4
Pages
381-397
ISSN
  • 0278-6133 (ISSN-L)
  • 1930-7810
OpenAlex
W1990350625
Cited by
109
References
79
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 1
FWCI
28.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Health Psychology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
  • Own your potential (DEAKIN) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Swinburne figshare (Swinburne University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (T32-DK07718, T32-NR008346)
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (569940, 1003960, APP1026216)
  • Victorian Government
  • Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence
  • Australian Research Council (FT100100918)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
Keywords
sedentary behavior, facilitators, parental influence, family dynamics, parental supervision, environmental context, behavior change
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Age Factors, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Parents, Television, Health Behavior, Focus Groups, Video Games, Qualitative Research, Sedentary Behavior, Observational Studies as Topic

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review