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Dr. Eva Unternährer

Department of Clinical Research
Profiles & Affiliations

The Early Environment and Child Development

Family Digital Media Use

My current research focus lies on the study of family screen media use and child socio-emotional development. Thereby, I do not only consider child screen use, but also parental use and parental phubbing/technoference. In this focus area, I am conducting three research projects:


  • SMARTIES: Parental Smartphone Use and Child Socioemotional Development
  • SWIPE: Screen Use in Swiss Preschoolers aged 0 to 5 years
  • SMILEY: Social Media Use and Depression

In addition, I am also working with different Start-ups and Associations that support parents in guiding the digital space for their children.


The Early Life Environment

In a broader area of research, I am also interested in how the early life environment, and early life adversity in particular, shapes psychobiological markers later in life. Here I am focusing on epigenetic mechanisms, as well as the endocrine and autonomous systems. Moreover, I am interested in the interplay between different biological systems, such as the stress-axis (glucocorticoids), neurotrophins (BDNF), the oxytocinergic system, and the metabolic system. This area of research requires the application of different methods, including hormonal assays, measurement of heart-rate, (epi-)genetic assessment, psychosocial assessments, etc.

Selected Publications

Schmid, Jalisse, Unternaehrer, Eva, Benecchi, Eleonora, Bernath, Jael, Bolten, Margarete, Bossi, Carine Burkhardt, Iskrzycki, Karina, Mazzoni, Petra, Steiner, Olivier, Sticca, Fabio, & Dimitrova, Nevena. (2025). Digital Media Use in 0–5 Year-Old Children in Switzerland. Swiss Psychology Open, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/spo.89

URLs
URLs

Meier, Maria, Kantelhardt, Sina, Gurri, Laura, Stadler, Christina, Schmid, Marc, Clemens, Vera, O’Donovan, Aoife, Boonmann, Cyril, Bürgin, David, & Unternaehrer, Eva. (2024). Childhood trauma is linked to epigenetic age deceleration in young adults with previous youth residential care placements [Journal-article]. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2024.2379144

URLs
URLs

Cost, Katherine T., Unternaehrer, Eva, Tsujimoto, Kimberley, Vanderloo, Leigh L., Birken, Catherine S., Maguire, Jonathon L., Szatmari, Peter, & Charach, Alice. (2023). Patterns of parent screen use, child screen time, and child socio-emotional problems at 5 years. Journal of Neuroendocrinology, 35(7). https://doi.org/10.1111/jne.13246

URLs
URLs

Selected Projects & Collaborations

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10006203 - SWIss Preschoolers’ screen Exposure (SWIPE) - Longitudinal effects on Socio-emotional, Language, and Motor Development

Research Project  | 3 Project Members

There is widespread concern about how screen use might affect children’s development, but studies on this topic yelded mixed results. This is probably due to the fact that it is not just the time that children spend in front of a screen that matters, but also what children are watching and under what circumstances. Therefore, the goal of this study is to examine whether child screen time is a risk factor for child development, considering additional factors that might play a role, such as screen content, parental motivations, time of day, non-screen based activities, sleep, and physical activity. The present study thus adresses three research questions: 1) How do young children in Switzerland use screens and how does this change during childhood? 2) Is child screen time a longitudinal risk factor for socio-emotional, language, and motor development? and 3) Which factors play a role in the longitudinal associations between child screen time and socio-emotional, language, and motor development?

To answer these questions, we are conducting a study with three timepoints each one year apart. At each timepoint, parents will answer online surveys on child screen use and socio-emotional, language, and motor developmental outcomes. Some parents will be invited to also complete a web add-on with additional online surveys and in-depth screen use assessment and a lab add-on with behavioral tests that measure child socio-emotional, language, and motor development, as well as a parent-child interaction during joint screen use.

This study will be the largest longitudinal study on children’s screen use starting in early childhood in Switzerland.


Imported from Grants Tool 4717721


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Study on Mobile Phone Attraction, Relationship Ties, Social Interactions, Emotion Regulation, and Stress (SMARTIES)

Research Project  | 11 Project Members

Mobile devices have become an essential part of our everyday life. Our smartphones grant access to work, entertainment, information, and to other people - anyplace and anytime. This permanent accessibility offers many benefits but also bears some risks. In the family environment, research on the risks and benefits of digital devices has mainly focused on child use. However, if and how parental problematic use of smartphones and other devices affects the socio-emotional development of children remains unclear. On the one hand, spending time on mobile devices reduces the time parents spend in direct interaction with their children. Because children learn many socio-emotional skills in direct interaction with their parents, a reduction in high-quality parent-child interactions increases the risk for child behavioral problems. On the other hand, using social networks might also increase the feeling of connectedness in the family. The aim of the proposed research project is to investigate the association between parental smartphone use and child socio-emotional development, and to assess the role of parent-child interactions in this association. To examine our research question, we are planning a large online study including German-speaking Swiss parents with children age 2-16. In addition, we will invite 150 parents with their 4-7-year-old children to the laboratories of the Child- and Adolescent Research Department of the Psychiatric University Hospitals (UPK). During the one-hour lab assessment, we will record and score parent-child interaction patterns in different situations and test different socio-emotional skills in children using developmental tests. In the long-term, the results will be highly relevant to formulate guidelines to advise parents on digital media use and screen time not only for their children but also for themselves.