 This study concluded television viewing time is positively associated with social problems, delinquent behavior, aggressive behavior, externalization, and total problem scores in children. Other studies have blamed television for causing conduct disorder, symptoms of psychological trauma, social skill difficulties, anorexia nervosa, nutritional changes, dieting and obesity, and substance use and abuse, and for negatively affecting sexuality and body concept and self-image.
Comment:
We are a nation addicted to television. We use television to keep our minds occupied and from engaging positively in life. We also use television as a quick and easy baby-sitting device for our children without proper regard for the consequences. These studies show some of the possible consequences for our children in a society that over uses television. Television is just one factor that may contribute to a diagnosis of ADHD and, as is often the case, we use medications as a quick fix to this problem instead of correcting the root cause.
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Behavioral correlates of television viewing in primary school children evaluated by the child behavior checklist |
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1064
(1 vote, average 1.00 out of 5)
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Sunday, 01 September 2002 00:00 |
“BACKGROUND: Television is a source from which children gain information about life and experience different types of behavior. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) has not been used thoroughly to evaluate the behavioral effects of television viewing on children. OBJECTIVE: To examine the competency and problem behavior correlates of television viewing in school-aged children using the CBCL. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Two randomly selected grade schools, one from a high-income district and the other from a low-income district. PARTICIPANTS: Students in grades 2 and 3 and their parents. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A questionnaire on children's time spent watching television and engaging in other daily activities and the CBCL were sent to the parents of 888 second- and third-grade students. RESULTS: Results of the questionnaire reported that the overall mean +/- SD daily television viewing time was 2.5 +/- 1.3 hours. Overall television viewing time had a negative correlation with social and school achievement (r = -0.17, P<.001 and r = 0.11, P =.03, respectively) subscale scores. Withdrawn (r = 0.11, P =.004), social problem (r = 0.14, P =.001), thought problem (r = 0.11, P =.03), attention problem (r = 0.20, P<.001), delinquent behavior (r = 0.12, P<.001), aggressive behavior (r = 0.22, P<.001), and externalization (r = 0.19, P<.001) subscales and total problem (r = 0.15, P<.001) scores were positively correlated with time spent watching television. Stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that the only significant variables associated with a risk of watching television for more than 2 hours were age, gender, social subscale, and attention problem subscale scores of the CBCL. CONCLUSION: As evaluated by the CBCL, television viewing time is positively associated with social problems, delinquent behavior, aggressive behavior, externalization, and total problem scores. Older age, male gender, and decreasing social subscale and increasing attention problem subscale scores on the CBCL increases the risk of watching television for more than 2 hours.”
“Children learn about life, exercise problem solving skills, and develop their own character by watching and experiencing the world around them. It has been stated that the average child or adolescent in the United States watches an average of 3 hours of television per day, and by the time he or she reaches 70 years of age, he or she will have spent the equivalent of 7 to 10 years watching television.”
“Television gives children a distorted image of the world, as children have difficulty in discriminating reality from fantasy on television. The results of the cultivation effect of television on children are widely studied, but the effects of television on human beings are too complicated to study thoroughly and then to specify cause-effect relationships.”
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