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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

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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
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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

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Selected Projects & Collaborations

Project cover

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.