Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-8-2025
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Stephanie Miller
Second Advisor
Kenya Wolff
Third Advisor
Drew Lefmann
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between screen time, executive function (EF), and book use in a sample of preschool-age children from rural Mississippi. To measure this relationship children were asked to complete three different EF tasks measuring impulse control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. To measure the child’s frequency of screen and book use, a parent-report survey was used. The results indicated that there might be a relationship between EF, screen, and books within certain variables. There was a relationship found between screen time and fewer books reported in the household. Between EF and screen time there was only one relationship found between working memory and screen time, suggesting that higher screen time might relate to lower working memory performance. There was also a relationship found between the number of books in the home and EF performances of the MEFS task. The results of this study suggest that there might be a relationship between screens and books on early childhood EF, and further research is needed in lower SES populations to understand this relationship.
Recommended Citation
McCraney, Anabel W., "Associations Between Screen Time, Executive Functioning, and Book Use in Preschool-Age Children From Rural Mississippi" (2025). Honors Theses. 3300.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3300
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.