The lives of children with phones

CHILDREN who own mobile phones are more likely to come from home with fewer books, have a complacent parent and be from a poorer area, the ESRI has found.

The research also pointed to children with phones doing worse in school, especially in English comprehension.

It also found a significant difference in types of parenting for those who have phones, compared to those who don’t. Those with mobile phones at age nine were more likely to have ‘permissive’ mothers, while those who didn’t were more likely to have ‘authoritative’ mothers, it found.

The ESRI research showed that children whose primary care-givers have lower levels of education and who report having less than 30 books in their home are significantly more likely to own a mobile phone at the age of nine.

Those who own a phone at nine years old are also not faring as well in academic development as they get older, according to the ESRI.

It found the negative association between early phone use and academic development persisted across socio-economic groups, regardless of a child’s background.

Children with parents who had higher incomes and higher levels of education were less likely to own their own mobile phones at the age of nine.

The association observed between mobile phone ownership and test scores remained, regardless of other factors that typically influence test scores, such as socio-economic class.

The ESRI said the results may help schools in making decisions on whether and when to restrict access to phones, particularly during the primary school years.