# Michigan Interactive Tech in Toddlers (MITTen) study

> **NIH NIH P01** · GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $110,994

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The rapid adoption of mobile and interactive technologies by American families has outpaced research on their
potential effects on child development and health. Much prior research on television (TV) and older forms of
media relied upon parent recall of global constructs such as “screen time,” which may not be a complete
representation of family media use now that parents and children use mobile and interactive devices in an
intermittent, on-demand manner throughout the day. As highlighted at the 2018 NICHD scientific workshop on
Media Exposure and Early Child Development, the design affordances of mobile and interactive media differ
from TV in several important ways, and deserve novel scientific paradigms to describe how children and
families use media. The proposed project will fill these gaps in scientific knowledge by testing a conceptual
framework that examines how parent and child mobile media use influence the development of child socio-
emotional skills through mechanisms involving parent and child cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses
states. We will also test whether effects are moderated by child temperament, parent executive functioning,
and family psychosocial stress. The proposed research leverages an ongoing longitudinal cohort study of
diverse toddlers and their parents (NICHD 1R01HD102370, PI: Radesky) that conducts home visit-based data
collection at ages 2, 3, and 4 years, adding virtual data collection waves at 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 years with the
CAFE Consortium data collection toolkit. Our approach will be synergistic with the other CAFE investigators on
this P01 Proposal and include a program aim of efficiently classifying children’s content as positive and child-
centered vs. engagement-prolonging and exploitative. In specific aim 1, we will use structural equation models
to examine bidirectional, longitudinal associations between parent mobile media use duration, frequency of
interruptions of family activities, and media response states (cognitive load related to media use) with early
childhood social competence, emotion regulation, and problematic media use. In specific aim 2, we will
examine bidirectional longitudinal associations between child mobile media use for regulatory purposes,
content quality (exploitative vs. positive), and media response states (difficulty transitioning from media) with
early childhood social competence, emotion regulation, and problematic media use. In specific aim 3, Examine
differential susceptibility to media effects by testing moderation of associations in SA1 and SA2 by child
temperament, parent executive functioning, and psychosocial stressors. Our findings will contribute to the
evidence base upon which digital media guidelines are based, as well as digital design approaches that reflect
the needs of families with young children. In addition, our attention to modeling bidirectional associations and
articulating individual child, parent, and design affordance factors in t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10913321
- **Project number:** 5P01HD109907-03
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** JENNY S RADESKY
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $110,994
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-09 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10913321

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10913321, Michigan Interactive Tech in Toddlers (MITTen) study (5P01HD109907-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10913321. Licensed CC0.

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