# Early Media Habits and Impacts on Infants and Toddlers' Development

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2020 · $75,037

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Media use is so common and widespread that, arguably, it is a major influence on children's development.
Although the impacts of television on parent-child interaction and young children's development are well
documented, little is known about how newer screen media influence these processes. Utilizing the NICHD-
funded Baby Books 2 project (R01HD078547), this project describes the media habits of very young and
diverse children at four time points in their early years (9, 18, 24, and 30 months), providing insights into the
trajectory of media consumption for low-income, ethnically and linguistically diverse children. Importantly, we
capture information about infants and toddlers' media habits with their mothers and their father as well as the
types of media activities they engage in. This includes solitary use, co-use with parents, and use that is
interactive or passive. Next, we identify which infant and parental characteristics predict media use over time.
Finally, we test how early media exposure and use are associated with parent-child relationship quality and
children's language development, social-emotional skills, and executive functioning at 24 and 30 months of
age. This study is the first to use a longitudinal design, include diverse families, use mother-report, father-
report and observational measures, and explore what, for how long, and with whom young children engage
with digital media. Findings will offer concrete recommendations for promoting healthy media use among
infants and toddlers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10040213
- **Project number:** 1R03HD102448-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephanie Michelle Reich
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $75,037
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-03 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10040213

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10040213, Early Media Habits and Impacts on Infants and Toddlers' Development (1R03HD102448-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10040213. Licensed CC0.

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