Screen media use and ADHD-related behaviors: Four decades of research
Open accessAbstract
The diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among children and adolescents has increased considerably over the past decades. Scholars and health professionals alike have expressed concern about the role of screen media in the rise in ADHD diagnosis. However, the extent to which screen media use and ADHD are linked remains a point of debate. To understand the current state of the field and, ultimately, move the field forward, we provide a systematic review of the literature on the relationship between children and adolescents’ screen media use and ADHD-related behaviors (i.e., attention problems, hyperactivity, and impulsivity). Using the Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model as a theoretical lens, we systematically organize the existing literature, identify potential shortcomings in this literature, and provide directions for future research. The available evidence suggests a statistically small relationship between media and ADHD-related behaviors. Evidence also suggests that individual child differences, such as gender and trait aggression, may moderate this relationship. There is a clear need for future research that investigates causality, underlying mechanisms, and differential susceptibility to the effects of screen media use on ADHD-related behaviors. It is only through a richer empirical body that we will be able to fully understand the media–ADHD relationship.
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Personality characteristics are expected to be at least partly related to both social media use and mental health state.
“Personality characteristics are expected to be at least partly related to both social media use and mental health state [28].”
From Social Media and Mental Health Among Early Adolescents in Sweden: A Longitudinal Study With 2-Year Follow-Up (KUPOL Study). (2021) · cites this paper as [28]
The Discussion and Avenues for Future Research section says dispositional factors influence the media children use and how they respond to it; the Dispositional Susceptibility section discusses links with ADHD-related behaviors. The paper addresses children's screen media and ADHD-related behaviors, not social media use and mental health state generally. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAcross a four-decade span, there is a small but significant relationship between screen media use and ADHD behaviors.
“The effects of screen time were also studied across a four-decade span and have found a small but significant relationship between screen media use and ADHD behaviors, further highlighting the importance of monitoring and managing screen time in this population to improve their attention span [63].”
From The Impact of Social Media & Technology on Child and Adolescent Mental Health (2025) · cites this paper as [63]
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- Authors
- Beyens, I., Valkenburg, P. M., & Piotrowski, J. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2018-10
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 40
- Pages
- 9875-9881
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC6176582
- OpenAlex
- W2895630669
- Cited by
- 190
- References
- 86
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 6.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- EC | European Research Council (AdG09 249488-ENTCHILD)
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (024.001.003)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, screen media use, attention deficits, hyperactivity, impulsivity, children and adolescents, trait aggression, gender differences
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Age Factors, Aggression, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Male, Models, Psychological, Sex Factors, Multimedia
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