Is screen time exposure a double-edged sword for children's social cognitive development among today's children? We conducted a short-term prospective longitudinal study of 57 typically developing children (M_age = 54.7 months, standard deviation = 2.5 months; 27 female) to examine the association between quantity of screen time exposure during the preschool years (Time 1; age 4) and social cognitive outcomes 1 year later (Time 2; age 5), coinciding with the time of formal school entry. We found that, in boys, watch time and gaming time at Time 1 were associated with relatively lower scores on an academic task at Time 2, and Time 1 gaming time was associated with relatively lower theory of mind at Time 2. For girls, Time 1 watch time was associated with relatively higher prosocial behavior at Time 2. We speculate that these contrasting gender findings may be accounted for by the specific gender-targeted programming currently available to young boys and girls.

中文翻译：

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普及教育时代下学龄前儿童的社会认知发展

屏幕时间曝光是当今儿童社会认知发展的双刃剑吗？我们对57名典型的发育中儿童（M_年龄）进行了短期前瞻性纵向研究 = 54.7个月，标准差= 2.5个月；27位女性）检查学龄前（时间1； 4岁）的屏幕时间暴露量与一年后（时间2； 5岁）的社会认知结果之间的关联，这与正式入学时间一致。我们发现，在男孩中，时间1的观看时间和游戏时间与时间2的学术任务得分相对较低相关，时间1的游戏时间与时间2的思想理论相对较低相关。对于女孩，时间1观看时间与2时相对较高的亲社会行为有关。我们推测，这些性别差异可能与当前针对年轻男孩和女孩的针对性别的特定计划有关。