Toddler TV exposure linked to later problems

Article from the Build Early Childhood Education e-Newsletter

Children who watched more television than their peers when they were toddlers and preschoolers were more likely to have trouble when they reached fourth grade, with poorer academic achievement, psychosocial behavior, and physical well-being, a Canadian study reports.

For each hour of television above the average that the more than 1,300 children had watched as toddlers, their classroom engagement fell by 7 percent and their math achievement by 6 percent, the researchers found. Reading did not differ. Each additional hour of TV above the average was associated with a 10 percent higher likelihood of being victimized by classmates, according to a social behavior questionnaire completed by teachers. Time spent being physically active fell 13 percent with each additional hour of TV watching as toddlers. Body mass index was 5 percent higher, and consumption of soft drinks and snacks was 9 percent and 10 percent higher, respectively. The results were similar for the 4-year-old preschoolers.

The researchers tracked children enrolled in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Parents answered questions about how much television their children watched when they were almost two and a half years old and again at almost four and half. When the children were in fourth grade, their teachers rated their academic performance compared with their classmates in math and reading as well as their psychosocial adjustment, including how engaged they were in the classroom and whether they were aggressors or victims in disputes with their classmates. Parents were asked how many hours their fourth-grade children spent being physically active and what they ate as snacks. Body mass index was also calculated.

At two and a half, the children in the study were exposed to an average of almost nine hours of television per week. That rose to almost 15 hours per week for four and a half year olds. These levels fall within guidelines set by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends no television for children under 2 and no more than 2 hours a day for children 2 and older. But 11 percent of the two year olds and 23 percent of the four year olds in the study were watching television more than two hours a day.

To view the complete study, please visit the website for Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.