Parents are more likely to give children with social and emotional difficulties mobile devices to calm them, according to an exploratory study conducted at Boston Medical Center. Researchers interviewed the parents of 144 healthy children ages 15 months to 36 months from low income families about how likely they were to use a smartphone or tablet in different situations as an activity for their child. The researchers found that parents were more likely to use devices to pacify children who were perceived as frequently showing difficult behavior than children who did not frequently show such behavior (JAMA Pediatrics, online Feb. 29).

If you are a parent that tends to rely on technology to pacify your child, please read this next bit of research on the effects of technology on children especially for those children prone to social and emotional difficulties. High usage of mobile devices may be linked to depression and anxiety according to research by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign psychologists. They surveyed more than 300 university students about their mental health, their cellphone and Internet use, and their motivations for using electronic devices. Findings showed that people who described themselves as having addictive-style behaviors toward the internet and cellphones scored much higher on depression and anxiety scales (Computers in Human Behavior, May).

Susie Bean Gives