Nowhere to go and nothing to do but sit? Youth screen time and the association with access to neighborhood destinations

With not much to do in their neighborhood, youth may spend more time in the home engaged in screen-based activities. Screen time data from 2,790 youth in the Western Australian Health and Wellbeing Survey were linked to objectively measured count of types of neighborhood services, convenience goods, public open space, and youth-related destinations. On average, youth accrued 801 mean min/week screen time and had access to seven different types of neighborhood destinations. A larger number of different types of neighborhood youth-related, service, and total destinations were associated with less screen time (all p equal to or less than .05). A significant gender interaction was observed. Girls with access to equal to or less than 12 youth-related destinations had 109 fewer mean min/week screen time, compared with girls with 0 to 3 youth-related destinations. Providing alternatives to screen use by ensuring access to a variety of neighborhood places for structured and unstructured activities may be an important strategy for decreasing youth screen time.