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Mediators of change in screen-time in a school-based intervention for adolescent boys: findings from the ATLAS cluster randomized controlled trial

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Abstract

The mechanisms of behavior change in youth screen-time interventions are poorly understood. Participants were 361 adolescent boys (12–14 years) participating in the ATLAS obesity prevention trial, evaluated in 14 schools in low-income areas of New South Wales, Australia. Recreational screen-time was assessed at baseline, 8- and 18-months, whereas potential mediators (i.e., motivation to limit screen-time and parental rules) were assessed at baseline, 4- and 18-months. Multi-level mediation analyses followed the intention-to-treat principle and were conducted using a product-of-coefficients test. The intervention had a significant impact on screen-time at both time-points, and on autonomous motivation at 18-months. Changes in autonomous motivation partially mediated the effect on screen-time at 18-months in single and multi-mediator models [AB (95% CI) = −5.49 (−12.13, −.70)]. Enhancing autonomous motivation may be effective for limiting screen-time among adolescent males.

Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry No: ACTRN12612000978864.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Tara Finn, Sarah Kennedy, Emma Pollock, and Mark Babic for their assistance with data collection. In addition we would like to thank Geoff Skinner and Andrew Harvey for their assistance with the ATLAS smartphone application. Finally, we would like to thank the schools, teachers, parents, and study participants for their involvement.

Funding

This study was funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP120100611). DRL is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. RCP is supported by a Senior Research Fellowship Salary Award from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Priority Research Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Education, Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Jordan J. Smith, Philip J. Morgan, Kerry Dally, Ronald C. Plotnikoff & David R. Lubans

  2. Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, NSW, Australia

    Chris Lonsdale

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  1. Jordan J. Smith
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  2. Philip J. Morgan
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  3. Chris Lonsdale
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  4. Kerry Dally
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  5. Ronald C. Plotnikoff
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  6. David R. Lubans
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Correspondence to Jordan J. Smith.

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Conflict of interest

Jordan J. Smith, Philip J. Morgan, Chris Lonsdale, Kerry Dally, Ronald C. Plotnikoff, and David R. Lubans declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights and Informed consent

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Smith, J.J., Morgan, P.J., Lonsdale, C. et al. Mediators of change in screen-time in a school-based intervention for adolescent boys: findings from the ATLAS cluster randomized controlled trial. J Behav Med 40, 423–433 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9810-2

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