Effects of Smoking Behavior and Cognition of Tobacco Control on Digital Entertainment and Mental Health of School-Age Children during Holidays

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Long Yanghuan, Wang Qiang, Yu Zhenwei, Guo Yu, Liu Xiangyu, Shi Mengjie

Abstract

We studied the consequences of parental domestic smoking behavior on children’s digital entertainment and mental health during COVID-19, and put forward the initiative of family tobacco control toprotect children's physical and mental health. Methods: From February 20 to February 23, 2021, using Sojump survey method, 800 smoking parents who live with children aged 6~12 answered the questionnaire online about basic information, children’s digital entertainment status, strengths and difficulties (SDQ). Results: 60.8% of the children exposed to secondhand smoke spend more than 1 h on digital entertainment every day; abnormal detection rates of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity and inattention, peer interaction, pro-social behavior, and difficulty total scores are 29.2%, 38.2%, 6.5%, 80.3%, 22.0%, 40.0%, respectively. Single factor analysis suggests that there are statistical differences in the degree of impact of household monthly income and children’s life under smoking parents on digital entertainment duration (c2= 14.76, 10.88; P <0.01). Binary logistic regression analysis reveals that more than 1 hour of digital entertainment per day is an important factor that triggers school-age children’s emotional symptoms, peer interactions, difficulties and high risks (OR=1.68, 1.89, 1.65; P<0.05). Conclusions: The greater the impact of parents’ smoking on children's life, the higher the proportion of children's excessive digital entertainment. The excessive digital entertainment will bring many mental health hazards to children. In particular, the children long endurance to secondhand smoke are more possibly to have adverse reactions like emotional symptoms, misconduct issues, hyperactivity and inattention.

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