Evidence suggests that increased use of screens early in life may have negative developmental consequences for children. However, little is known concerning parental factors that predict initial screen exposure in infancy. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether parental educational attainment and maternal stress were associated with infant screen exposure by 6 months of age. A diverse sample of mothers (N = 93) was recruited prenatally. In a follow-up visit when the infants were six months of age (N = 82), we examined factors that may be associated with initial infant exposure to screens. First, mothers reported whether they had already exposed their infants to screens. Thereafter, those mothers who reported already having exposed their infants to screens were further queried to determine the extent of infant screen use. Results demonstrated that among infants exposed to screens, mothers reported an average of nearly 3 h of daily screen use. Average parental educational attainment, but not maternal stress, was significantly associated with initial infant exposure. Of those families who endorsed screen exposure by 6 months, 70 % reported a screen in the room where the child sleeps, nearly half reported using screens to help calm the infant, and about a third reported using a screen at least sometimes during meals, when going to sleep, and while waiting. Parental education around infant screen use behaviors may be important to help promote child development and outcomes.

有证据表明，在生命早期增加使用屏幕可能会对儿童的发育产生负面影响。然而，对于预测婴儿期初次屏幕接触的父母因素知之甚少。本研究的主要目的是调查父母受教育程度和母亲压力是否与 6 个月大的婴儿屏幕暴露有关。产前招募了不同的母亲样本（N = 93）。在婴儿六个月大时（N = 82）的随访中，我们检查了可能与婴儿最初接触屏幕相关的因素。首先，母亲们报告她们是否已经让婴儿接触过屏幕。此后，那些报告已经让婴儿接触过屏幕的母亲被进一步询问，以确定婴儿屏幕的使用程度。结果表明，在接触屏幕的婴儿中，母亲报告平均每天使用屏幕近 3 小时。父母的平均受教育程度与婴儿的初始暴露显着相关，但与母亲的压力无关。在那些支持 6 个月大时接触屏幕的家庭中，70% 的家庭表示在孩子睡觉的房间里放置了屏幕，近一半的家庭表示使用屏幕来帮助婴儿平静下来，大约三分之一的家庭表示至少有时在进餐时使用屏幕。去睡觉，以及等待的时候。关于婴儿屏幕使用行为的家长教育对于帮助促进儿童的发展和结果可能很重要。