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Early television exposure and subsequent attentional problems in children
Author(s) -
MehmetRadji Ozlem
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2004.00456_4.x
Subject(s) - psychology , longitudinal study , logistic regression , attention span , developmental psychology , cognition , audiology , medicine , psychiatry , pathology
Early television exposure and subsequent attentional problems in children.
Christakis DA , Zimmerman FJ , Di Giuseppe DL & McCarty CA.
(2004)Pediatrics,113,708–713.Objective Cross‐sectional research has suggested that television viewing may be associated with decreased attention spans in children. However, longitudinal data of early television exposure and subsequent attentional problems have been lacking. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that early television exposure (at ages 1 and 3) is associated with attentional problems at age 7. Methods We used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a representative longitudinal data set. Our main outcome was the hyperactivity subscale of the Behavioural Problems Index determined on all participants at age 7. Children who were > 1.2 standard deviations above the mean were classified as having attentional problems. Our main predictor was hours of television watched daily at ages 1 and 3 years. Results Data were available for 1278 children at age 1 and 1345 children at age 3. Ten percent of children had attentional problems at age 7. In a logistic regression model, hours of television viewing per day at both ages 1 and 3 were associated with attentional problems at age 7 [1.09 (1.03–1.15) and 1.09 (1.02–1.16), respectively]. Conclusions Early television exposure is associated with attentional problems at age 7. Efforts to limit television viewing in early childhood may be warranted, and additional research is needed.