India, June 19 -- Parents worldwide remain worried about the number of hours children remain glued to their mobile screens in a day. Now, a new study suggests that longer screen time at age 10 is not associated with higher rates of suicidal behavior. What mattered more is whether the children are getting addicted to their screens or not.

The research, published on Wednesday in JAMA journal of the American Medical Association states that the time children spent on social media and video games was not associated with internalizing symptoms of mental health problems (anxiety and depression), CNN reported.

The study covered more than 4,000 children across the US over a period of four years, with the participants being in the 9-10 years age ...