Physical-Digital and Social-Nonsocial Extracurricular Engagement: Differential Effects on Brain Development and Psychological Outcomes in Children

Physical-Digital and Social-Nonsocial Extracurricular Engagement: Differential Effects on Brain Development and Psychological Outcomes in Children | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Physical-Digital and Social-Nonsocial Extracurricular Engagement: Differential Effects on Brain Development and Psychological Outcomes in Children Bing Liu, Xiaohan Tian, Ruoxin Yang, Jing Lou, Yuqing Sun, Meng Wang, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6420613/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Extracurricular activities shape children’s development, yet how the interaction between their modality (digital/physical) and social context (social/non-social) impact mental health and neurodevelopment remains unclear. This study examined these relationships and their bidirectionality, as well as mediation by brain structural changes. Using baseline and one-year follow-up data from 8230 children in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, we analyzed self-reported screen time for six digital activities (three social, three non-social), caregiver-reported participation in 28 extracurricular activities (11 social, 17 non-social), mental health via the Child Behavior Checklist and Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, and gray matter volume using T1-weighted MRI. Distinct interaction patterns between modality and social context emerged. Physical-social activities were linked to fewer psychiatric symptoms, particularly withdrawn/depressed behaviors, and increased frontoparietal gray matter. In contrast, digital non-social activities were associated with higher psychiatric risk, especially rule-breaking behaviors, and reduced temporal gray matter. Physical non-social and digital-social activities demonstrated mixed effects on psychological and physiological development outcomes. Longitudinal analyses revealed bidirectional activity-mental health associations, with brain volume changes mediating 3.7-5.0% of these relationships. These findings highlight the interactive role of activity modality and social context in children’s development and provide neurobiological evidence informing guidelines for beneficial developmental outcomes. Health sciences/Health care/Paediatrics Biological sciences/Psychology Biological sciences/Neuroscience Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryData.xlsx Supplementary Dataset SupplementaryInformation.pdf Supplementary Infomation Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6420613","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":443828648,"identity":"9cfe6854-194b-47b9-ab9f-7528c812e9c8","order_by":0,"name":"Bing 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