The Relationship Between Media Multitasking and Attention Problems in Adolescents: Results of Two Longitudinal Studies | Zendy

Susanne E. Baumgartner | Zendy; Winneke A. van der Schuur | Zendy; Jeroen S. Lemmens | Zendy; Fam te Poel | Zendy

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The Relationship Between Media Multitasking and Attention Problems in Adolescents: Results of Two Longitudinal Studies

Author(s) -

Susanne E. Baumgartner,

Winneke A. van der Schuur,

Jeroen S. Lemmens,

Fam te Poel

Publication year - 2017

Publication title -

human communication research

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.002

H-Index - 89

eISSN - 1468-2958

pISSN - 0360-3989

DOI - 10.1093/hcre.12111

Subject(s) - human multitasking , psychology , media use , longitudinal study , developmental psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , medicine , pathology

The increased prevalence of media multitasking among adolescents has raised concerns that media multitasking may cause attention problems. Despite cross-sectional evidence of the relationship between media multitasking and attention problems, no study has yet investigated this relationship longitudinally. It is therefore unclear how these two variables are related. Two 3-wave longitudinal studies with 3- and 6-month time lags were conducted. In total, 2,390 adolescents aged 11–16 provided data on media multitasking and attention problems. Findings from random intercept autoregressive cross-lagged models suggest that media multitasking and attention problems were strongly related between individuals. Empirical evidence for a potential detrimental long-term effect of media multitasking on attention problems was only found among early adolescents but not among middle adolescents.

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