Television viewing by young Hispanic children: evidence of heterogeneity.

OBJECTIVES To determine if hours of daily television viewed by varying age groups of young children with Hispanic mothers differs by maternal language preference and to compare these differences with young children with white mothers. DESIGN Cross-sectional analysis of data collected in 2000 from the National Survey of Early Childhood Health. SETTING Nationally representative sample. PARTICIPANTS One thousand three hundred forty-seven mothers of children aged 4 to 35 months. MAIN EXPOSURE Subgroups of self-reported maternal race/ethnicity (white or Hispanic) and within Hispanic race/ethnicity, stratification by maternal language preference (English or Spanish). OUTCOME MEASURE Hours of daily television the child viewed. RESULTS Bivariate analyses showed that children of English- vs Spanish-speaking Hispanic mothers watched more television daily (1.88 vs 1.31 hours, P < .01). Multivariable regression analyses stratified by age revealed differences by age group. Among 4- to 11-month-old infants, those of English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanic mothers watched similar amounts. However, among children aged 12 to 23 and 24 to 35 months, those of English-speaking Hispanic mothers watched more television than children of Spanish-speaking Hispanic mothers (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17-2.22; IRR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.10-2.51, respectively). Compared with children of white mothers, children of both Hispanic subgroups watched similar amounts among the 4- to 11-month-old group. However, among 12- to 23-month-old children, those of English-speaking Hispanic mothers watched more compared with children of white mothers (IRR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.18-2.11). Among 24- to 35-month-old children, those of English-speaking Hispanic mothers watched similar amounts compared with children of white mothers, but children of Spanish-speaking Hispanic mothers watched less (IRR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.50-0.95). CONCLUSION Television-viewing amounts among young children with Hispanic mothers vary by child age and maternal language preference, supporting the need to explore sociocultural factors that influence viewing in Hispanic children.