Please cite this article in press as: Carson V, et al. Associations between meeting the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years and behavioral and emotional problems among 3-year-olds. J Sci Med Sport (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.01.003 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model JSAMS-2014; No. of Pages 6 Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport xxx (2018) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsams Original research Associations between meeting the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years and behavioral and emotional problems among 3-year-olds Valerie Carson a,∗ , Victor E. Ezeugwu a,b , Sukhpreet K. Tamana b , Joyce Chikuma b , Diana L. Lefebvre c , Meghan B. Azad d , Theo J. Moraes e , Padmaja Subbarao e , Allan B. Becker d , Stuart E. Turvey f , Malcolm R. Sears c , Piush J. Mandhane b a Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Canada b Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Canada c Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Canada d Department of Pediatrics & Child Health, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, University of Manitoba, Canada e Department of Pediatrics, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada f Department of Pediatrics, BC Children’s Hospital, University of British Columbia, Canada a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 12 October 2018 Received in revised form 20 December 2018 Accepted 6 January 2019 Available online xxx Keywords: Exercise Television Sleep Guideline Child development Fitness trackers a b s t r a c t Objectives: Primary: examine associations between meeting the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years and behavioral and emotional problems in a large sample of 3-year-old children. Secondary: determine the proportion of children meeting the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines. Design: Cross-sectional. Methods: Participants were 3-year olds (n = 539) from the Edmonton site of the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) birth cohort. Physical activity and sleep duration were accelerometer- derived while screen time was parent-reported. Meeting the overall guidelines was defined as: (1) ≥180 min/day of total physical activity, including 60 min/day of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity, (2) ≤1 h/day of screen time, and (3) 10–13 h of sleep per 24-hour period. Externalizing, inter- nalizing, and total problem scores (lower scores representing fewer problems) were calculated from the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Descriptive statistics and linear regression models were completed. Results: Only 5% of children met the overall guidelines (all three recommendations), with 19.3%, 50.5%, and 83.1% meeting the physical activity, screen time, and sleep recommendations, respectively. Meet- ing more recommendations was associated with lower scores for total (B = −1.78, 95%CI: −3.03, −0.54), externalizing (B = −1.51, 95%CI: −2.80, −0.22) and internalizing (B = −1.35, 95%CI: −2.60, −0.01) prob- lems. Similar findings were also observed for the specific combinations of: (1) physical activity and screen time and (2) sleep duration and screen time. Conclusions: Meeting more recommendations within the 24-hour Movement Guidelines was associated with fewer behavioral and emotional problems at 3-years. Few 3-year-olds met the overall guidelines. Findings support an integrated approach for healthy growth and development. © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Sports Medicine Australia. Practical implications • Meeting more recommendations was associated with fewer behavioral and emotional problems, as measured by the CBCL. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: vlcarson@ualberta.ca (V. Carson). • Associations were most evident for combinations of sleep/screen time and physical activity/screen time. • Associations were strongest for total and externalizing problems. • Few children met the new 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.01.003 1440-2440/© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Sports Medicine Australia.