MELBOURNE - Younger siblings spend more time on screens and less on educational activities than their older brothers and sisters, new Australian research has found, reported Xinhua.
A study by Monash Business School's Centre for Health Economics found that compared with firstborn children, second- and third-born children spend an extra nine and 14 minutes per day on screen time and less time on enrichment activities, the university said in a statement recently.
"While this may sound modest, it represents a 7-10 per cent increase compared to the average daily screen time of firstborns," said Danusha Jayawardana, a research fellow at the centre.
Over a week, this adds up to roughly one and 1.5 extra hours of screen use, she said.
"This extra screen time also comes at the cost of other activities. In particular, later-born children spend 11 to 18 minutes less per day on enrichment activities, an 11-20 per cent reduction compared to older siblings," Jayawardana said, adding that enrichment activities include reading, homework, playing board games or learning a musical instrument.
The study drew on survey data from around 5,500 Australian children aged two to 15, including 24-hour diaries tracking how they spent their time from waking to bedtime, and whether activities were undertaken with parents or alone.
The findings suggest that parental time and attention to foster subsequent children's development decline as families grow, and that later-born children experience more lenient parenting, including rules around screen use.
The researchers recommended parents spend quality time with younger siblings, actively encourage enrichment activities, and maintain consistent rules around screen time across children to support healthy development. - BERNAMA-XINHUA