Media Devices in Parents' and Children's Bedrooms and Children's Media Use

Objectives: The American Academy of Pediatrics advises having no media devices in children's bedrooms. We examined the link between media devices in parents' and children's bedrooms and children's media use. Methods: Ninety parent-child dyads participated in a community-based healthy weight management study targeting 8-to-12-year-olds with body mass index (BMI)-for-age >= 75th percentile. Parents and children reported the number of media devices in their bedrooms and hours spent using media devices on weekdays and weekend days. Results: Most children (61%) and parents (92%) had at least one media device in their bedrooms. The numbers of devices in parents' and children's bedrooms were positively correlated. Children with no bedroom media devices reported less weekday media use compared to children with bedroom devices. A similar non-significant pattern was found for children's weekend media use. Conclusions: Study findings indicate similar media devices in the bedrooms of parents and children and a significant association between media devices in children's bedrooms and their weekday media use. Efforts to reduce media in parent bedrooms may enhance interventions targeting reduction of media use among children, especially those with higher BMI.