Assessment of electronic media use in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Objective: Electronic media use is an emerging area of research interest and its relationship with Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is neglected in Turkish literature. We therefore aimed to examine its relationship with certain variables and ADHD subtypes. Methods: A total of 360 participants aged between 6-18 years, who attended Bezmialem University, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient clinic between January 2016 and October 2016, were screened with The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Age Children (KSADS) interview to ascertain diagnosis and a sociodemographic information tool was used to collect the relevant data. Results: The mean age was 9.47±2.67, and 81.9% majority of the sample consisted of males. Exposure to total media (TV, cell phone, tablet, computer) between 2 and 4 hours was reported in 20.6% of the sample, whilst 4-6 hours exposure was reported in 15.8%, 6-8 hours was reported in %11.4, 8-10 hours was stated by 9.4% of the participants and more than 10 hours of exposure to electronic media was reported in 18.2 % of the total sample. More than 2 hours/day computer/tablet use, and more than 4 hours/day cell phone use were significantly associated with academic underachievement, which also became more significant as the time spent with total media gadgets increased. Electronic media use significantly decreased as the household income increased. TV viewing before 2 years of age was significantly associated with heavy use of electronic media, whilst this significance was lost when the age threshold was dropped to 1 year. Total TV viewing in the household was significantly higher among the heavy electronic media users. Regression analysis revealed that exposure to electronic media for 10 hours and above was significantly and independently associated with current family psychiatric illness and low academic achievement. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting exposure to electronic media in a Turkish clinical sample of children and adolescents with ADHD. Results are in line with the existing international literature and highlights the excessive electronic media use in this clinical population. We recommend a routine screening for electronic media exposure in ADHD minors and increase awareness in their families and education system. [Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg 2017; 18(5.000): 495-502]