Comparison of Physical Activity, TV/Video Watching/Gaming, and Usage of a Portable Electronic Devices by Children With a
- PDF / 691,268 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 9 Downloads / 151 Views
Comparison of Physical Activity, TV/Video Watching/Gaming, and Usage of a Portable Electronic Devices by Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder Kristi S. Menear1 · James M. Ernest1 Accepted: 23 September 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Objective Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participate in less physical activity (PA) and more sedentary behavior than their peers without ASD. Methods The study employed Chi-square analyses of the NSCH 2016–2017 data to compare PA, TV/video watching/gaming, and usage of portable electronic devices by children with and without ASD by age and ASD severity. Results Results suggest more than two and a half times as many children 6–11 and 12–17 years old with ASD failed to engage in 60 min of PA during the past week compared to peers without ASD. As children aged, their PA time decreased, with a larger percentage drop for children with ASD. For children ages 6–11 years, an inverse relationship was found between PA and ASD severity that was not found for older children. As the children got older, children with ASD spent more time watching TV/video watching/gaming than peers without ASD, with differing results by ASD severity. More children Birth to 5 years ASD used portable electronic devices than their peers without ASD and more young children with ASD used devices for 3 or more hours a day. Roughly the same proportions of children 12–17 years old used devices for more than 3 h a day but differential results were found between children with and without ASD for less than 1 h of device use. Conclusions for Practice These data can be used to advocate for individualized PA interventions and services to increase PA and decrease sedentary behaviors of children with ASD. Keywords Autism · Physical activity · Exercise · TV/video watching/gaming · Portable electronic device
Significance What is already known on this subject? Previous research shows children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participate less in physical activity (PA) and exercise than their typically developing peers and spend more time than their peers in sedentary behaviors. What this study adds? This study analyzes the newest data from a national data set. The study compares participation by children 0–17 years old without ASD to children with ASD, by severity level, in PA, time spent TV/video watching/gaming, and use of a portable electronic device. To our
knowledge, this is the first study to include data on a wide range of electronic devices, inclusive of tablets, that takes into account the recent large swings in how often children watch TV/video watching/gaming and use portable electronic devices. Given prior research that indicates strong relationships between technology use and PA, this is the first study to explore the severity levels of ASD as they relate to technology use and PA. These data can be used to advocate for individualized PA interventions and the appropriate supporting services in order to increase the PA behaviors and
Data Loading...
