Family Screenome Study

We study how adolescents and their parents use smartphones, and how their smartphone use impacts their family relationships and well-being.

• We use the Screenomics approach to collect real-time, high-intensity (every 5 seconds over up to 6 months) smartphone data from adolescents and parents. Our ongoing projects include: 

  • Understanding the discrepancy between objective and self-reported smartphone use patterns

  • Understanding the longitudinal associations between adolescents’ objective smartphone use and their well-being

  • Understanding how adolescents use their smartphones during school hours

  • Understanding how adolescents and parents use their smartphones overnight

    
    

---

This work is supported by the University of Minnesota's Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry, and Scholarship, and the Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute.

Featured Publications

Sun, X., Ram, N., Reeves, B., Cho, M. J., Fitzgerald, A., & Robinson, T. N. (2023). Connectedness and independence of young adults and parents in the digital world: Observing smartphone interactions at multiple timescales using Screenomics. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40(4), 1126-1150. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075221104268 Sun, X., Dworkin, J., & LeBouef, S. (2023). Late adolescents’ texting experiences with family: Mixed-Method analysis for understanding themes and sentiments. Adolescents, 3(3), 581-593. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents3030041

Dworkin, J., Sun, X., LeBouef, S., & Keyzers, A. (2023). Associations among parent technology use, locus of control, and child problem behaviors. Family Relations, 72(2), 443-457. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12811

Sun, X., Haydel, K. F., Matheson, D., Desai, M., & Robinson, T. N. (2023). Are mobile phone ownership and age of acquisition associated with child adjustment? A 5‐year prospective study among low‐income Latinx children. Child Development, 94(1), 303-314. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13851. [top 10% downloaded article]

Featured Presentations and Talks

Sun, X., Nielsen, K. M., Ram, N., Reeves, B., & Robinson, T. N. (2024, November). Describing adolescents’ overnight smartphone use with high-intensity smartphone data. Paper to be presented at the National Council on Family Relations, Bellevue, WA.

Rineman, R. M., Xu, T., Nielsen, K. M., & Sun, X. (2024, November). What about the parents? Overnight smartphone use in parents of adolescents. Paper to be presented at the National Council on Family Relations, Bellevue, WA.

Park, E., Sun, X., Nielsen, K. M., Ram, N., Reeves, B., & Robinson, T. N. (2024, November). Longitudinal associations between adolescents’ smartphone distraction management during family time and their relationships with parents. Paper to be presented at the National Council on Family Relations, Bellevue, WA.

Nielsen, K. M., Sun, X., Ram, N., Reeves, B., & Robinson, T. N. (2024, November). Accuracy of self-reported smartphone use among adolescents and their parents. Paper to be presented at the National Council on Family Relations, Bellevue, WA.

Sun, X. (2024, May). Using Screenomics to Study Adolescents’ and Parents’ Smartphone Use and Well-being. Invited talk for the Health Psychology Interest Group (H-PIG), Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Long, J. & Sun, X. (2024, April). How adolescents use smartphone and social media overnight: Objective observations from passive sensing and gender difference. Poster presented at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Long Beach, CA.

Xu, T., Sun, X., Nielsen, K. M., Ram, N., Reeves, B., & Robinson, T. N. (2024, April). Adolescents’ perceptions of COVID-19 media messages and their preventive health behaviors. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of Society for Research on Adolescence, Chicago, IL. 

Hanson, A. N., Sun, X., Nielsen, K. M., Ram, N., Reeves, B., & Robinson, T. N. (2023, November) Parent and adolescent perceptions of parent smartphone addiction: A longitudinal descriptive analysis. Paper presented at the National Council on Family Relations, Orlando, FL.

Sun, X. (2023, June). Smartphone Behaviors and Youth Mental Health: Two Longitudinal Studies. Invited talk for the 3rd Wenqin Child Development Forum, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

Sun, X., Nielsen, K., Ram, N., Reeves, B., & Robinson, T. N. (2023, April). Adolescent social media use and weight concerns: A longitudinal Screenomics study. Paper presented at Annual Conference of Society for Research on Adolescence, San Diego, CA.

Sun, X., Haydel, K. F., Matheson, D., Desai, M., & Robinson, T. N. (2021, April). Prospective study of mobile phone acquisition and ownership and well-being among Latinx children. Poster presented at the 2021 SRCD Virtual Biennial Meeting.

Sun, X., Robinson, T. N., Ram, N., Reeves, B., Cho, M. J., Chiatti, A., Lee, J., Roehrick, K., Yang, X., & Fitzgerald, A. (2020, July). Parent-young adult communication in the digital world: A Screenomics paradigm. Paper presented at 6th International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2), virtual conference.