Screens, Teens, and Psychological Well-Being
Screens, teens, and psychological well-being. In a study of three nationally representative large- scale data sets from Ireland, the United States, and the United Kingdom (n = 17,247), teenagers between the ages of 12 to 15 were asked to keep a diary of their screen time and answer questions about how they felt or acted. The answers to these questions were then used to compute a psychological well-being score. Additional data were collected and included in the analysis, such as each child’s sex and age, and on the mother’s education, ethnicity, psychological distress, and employment. The study concluded that there is little clear-cut evidence that screen time decreases adolescent well-being.35
(a) What type of study is this?
(b) Identify the explanatory variables.
(c) Identify the response variable.
(d) Comment on whether the results of the study can be generalized to the population, and why.
(e) Comment on whether the results of the study can be used to establish causal relationships.
