Extreme screen time in teenagers increases their risk of school truancy by more than a third, a new study reveals.
Online addiction in teens, along with lack of sleep and exercise, can lead to more days off sick or skipping school, but good parenting can help offset this.
The study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, followed 86,270 years eight and nine pupils aged 14 to 16 who were asked about their relationship with their parents, sleep patterns, exercise, screen time, and school absence.
Excessive internet use was assessed using a scale with five components indicating compulsion; neglect of family, friends, and study; anxiety if not online; and failure to eat or sleep because of being online.
Results showed that on average teenage girls spent more time online than boys, and they were 96 percent more likely to fall into the excessive internet use category, which the researchers suggest is down to social media use.
On the other hand, boys reported more truancy than girls, who were more likely to have their absences medically explained.
Excessive amounts of online time were found to increase both truancy—38 percent heightened risk -- and medically explained school absences—24 percent raised risk.
Parents, however, have the power to offset this risk by forming good relationships with their teens where they feel comfortable sharing their problems.
Good parental relations, longer weekday sleep, and physical activity all emerged as significantly protective, with more of each factor associated with a decrease of both types of school absences.
Being able to talk about concerns with parents was the biggest help in stopping absence, with 59 percent less truancy and 39 percent less absence from illness for students who felt they could share troubling issues with their parents.
Teens could also use upping their sleep and exercise to offset internet use, with more than a third of participants getting less than eight hours of sleep on school nights and a third reporting low levels of physical activity for fewer than three days a week.
Originally published by Talker News