The Risk of Digital Exposure for Children’s Digital Reading Comprehension

The data is associated to an article where we studied the effect of digital exposure on multiple digital document comprehension and information integration in 203 5th-graders. This dataset includes measurements of the children's working memory, sustained attention, decoding, vocabulary, and digital exposure. The data was collected in an experiment where children read four digital hypermedia texts on cow milk. They wrote an e-mail giving advice on the consumption of cow milk in schools and answered multiple choice comprehension questions. Their navigation was also assessed as the number of unique pages that were visited. The analysis of this data showed that social media negatively predicted comprehension. Navigation (i.e., unique pages visited) mediated the relation between decoding and comprehension. Decoding and vocabulary were significant predictors of text integration (essays) and gaming had a negative effect on integration. Children with dyslexia visited fewer unique pages, and showed lower comprehension and integration. Children with ADHD engaged more often with social media use and gaming. For children with ADHD, digital exposure may be an additional risk factor in their digital reading skills. Children with dyslexia face additional problems in navigation behavior.