Screen media are associated with fine motor skill development in preschool children

Media form an integral part of children's environments and represent, amongst other domains, altered sensorimotor experiences. Fine motor skills (FMS) represent a fundamental prerequisite for learning cognition initial work has begun to show links with screen media usage – although is scarce the directionality uncertain. Therefore, using cross-lagged-panel design 2 waves 1 year apart, we examined longitudinal between FMS in 141 preschool children. Results negative cross-lagged path from FMS, which was also statistically significant when only newer were examined, after controlling parental educational attainment, immigrant status, device ownership, age first use, working memory, vocabulary. The study contributes our understanding development.