BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – Teens who use digital media at consistently high levels may face increased risks to their cognitive health and safety later in life, according to new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The study, published in Children, found that young adults who maintained high levels of digital media use during their teen years were more likely to report suicide attempts and had worse short-term memory compared with peers who had low screen use, according to UAB.
Caroline Watson, a clinical psychology doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology at UAB’s Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, led the study. It focused on the effects of media use over the course of 15 years, tracking participants from ages 11-30.
Study identifies four usage patterns
The study looked at data from more than 6,700 participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a federally funded dataset that is nationally representative, according to UAB…