The Relationship Between Media Multitasks And Attention Problems In The Adolescents

With the development of portable media technology,media use have increased dramatically,which has also led to the rapid growth of adolescents media multitasking behaviors.The impact of increasing media multitasking behaviors on adolescents’ physical and mental health has begun to receive attention from society and families.In order to determine the media multitasking behavior how to affect the adolescents’ cognitive development,this paper intends to explore the relationship between attention problems and media multitasking.This research has two purposes: First,to investigate the media use situation of the adolescents in China,and to determine the media combination in the media multitasking questionnaire.Second,by analysing the data at two time points(T1,T2)longitudinally,construct a cross-lag model to investigate the relationship between media multitasking behaviors and attention problems,and further analyze media multitasks in different grades(primary,junior high,and high school).In addition,explore the behavioral response’ moderator effect on the cross-lag path of media multitasking behaviors to attention problems.The first part of this study selected 417 adolescents,ranging in age from 8 to 17 years.By issuing a media use questionnaire,it was found that the media use situation gradually changes with the grade.In the second part of this study,media multitask questionnaire and ADHD self-assessment questionnaire were distributed to students from nine primary and secondary schools in Jilin,Heilongjiang,Hebei,Zhejiang,Qinghai,and Chongqing Province.The intervals were 3 months.The first measurement was March 2019.A total of 708 valid participants participated in the first measurement,the second measurement was June 2019,due to transfer and other reasons,the number of effective participants in the survey was 601.This study was found that(1)the use of media has gradually changed with the change of grades,which is mainly manifested in a form of transition from traditional media to portable media,and the media use purpose is shifting from learning to entertainment and social contact.(2)Both types of media multitasking behavior(media + media,media+ non-media)are significantly positively related to attention problems.T1 mediamultitasking(media + media,media + non-media)can significantly predict the attention problems of adolescents at T2 time,and attention problems at T1 time can also significantly predict the adolescents ’ media multitasking behaviors at T2.There is a two-way cross-lag prediction effect on the attention problems and media multitasks.(3)The relationship between media multitasking behaviors and attention problems has different patterns in different ages(primary,junior,and senior school):in the elementary stage,there is no prediction effect on the two types of media multitasking behaviors and attention problems;at the junior stage,there is only a one-way cross lag path in which the attention problems significantly predict the media multitasking behavior of media + media activities,and a one-way cross lag path on the media multitasking behaviors of media + non-media activities significantly predict the attention problem;in the senior stage,in the cross-lag model of media multitasking(media + media activities)behaviors and attention problems,there is only one-way prediction,and media multitasking can significantly predict the 3months later attention problems.In the media multitasks(media + non-media activities)cross-lag model displays a two-way predictive effects.(4)The behavioral response of media multitasks is a moderator in the cross-lagging path of media multitasking to attention problems.