Moderate screen time after concussion was linked to greater improvement in psychological symptoms in adolescents than either low or high use, a study suggests.
The research followed adolescents aged 12 to 17.9 years who had sustained a concussion, a mild brain injury usually caused by a blow to the head, and were assessed within 10 days of injury. Age and sex matched control participants without concussion were included for comparison.
A total of 62 adolescents with concussion completed baseline screen time assessments, and 49 completed follow-up evaluations at three months.
A total of 40 control participants completed baseline assessments. Sport-related injuries were the most common cause.
Screen time was self-reported and split into three groups: low, averaging 1.97 hours a day, moderate, 5.22 hours a day, and high, 8.96 hours a day.
Psychological symptoms were assessed using standardised scales for depression and anxiety at baseline and again at three months after concussion.
At baseline, adolescents in all three screen time groups reported significantly higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms than healthy controls.
However, psychological symptom levels did not differ significantly among the concussion screen time groups at baseline.
Differences between the screen time groups emerged at three months. Adolescents reporting moderate recreational screen time experienced significant improvements in both depressive and anxiety symptoms over time, with symptom levels returning to levels comparable to those seen in control participants.
Adolescents who reported high levels of screen time continued to show elevated depressive symptoms at the three-month follow-up, while adolescents with low screen time reported persistently higher anxiety symptoms than control participants.
High screen time was associated with greater depressive symptoms than moderate use, while low screen time was associated with higher anxiety symptoms than both the moderate and high use groups.
Further exploratory analysis suggested that generalised anxiety symptoms were particularly associated with low recreational screen time use.
The researchers acknowledged limitations, including reliance on self-reported screen time and a lack of data on pre-injury psychological symptoms.
The study authors concluded: “These results suggest potential benefits of moderate [screen time] following concussion and could inform future research.”
