Health literacy and screen use among 13-year-old students in Norway - A cross-sectional study.

Background: Adolescence is a life phase in which future life opportunities and patterns of adult health are established. There is growing concern about excessive screen use among adolescents. Health literacy is associated with various health behaviours, but the association with screen use is scarcely studied. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between health literacy and diverse types of screen use among students and to identify possible gender differences.

Methods: Cross-sectional data was collected from a self-report survey distributed to 1425 (68.5% of those invited) 13-year-old students across 48 schools from 19 municipalities in Norway. Associations between self-reported health literacy (gathered using the Health Literacy in School Aged Children scale) and time spent on gaming, social media, TV, and total screen use were studied using linear mixed effect models.

Results: Overall, a statistically significant association between health literacy and screen use was identified: an increase in health literacy tends to be associated with a decrease in screen time. This association was stronger for girls than boys and varied with different screen activities. The health literacy mean score was statistically significantly higher for boys (30.43) than girls (29.81), but the difference was small. About 25% of the students spend seven hours or more on screens on weekdays outside school hours. Girls are more likely to use social media and boys are more occupied with gaming.

Conclusions: This study adds screen use to the list of health behaviours that are associated with health literacy among adolescents. Results indicate that increasing health literacy might help reduce screen time in conjunction with other targeted actions.