We use heterogeneity in the timing of television’s introduction to different local markets to identify the effect of preschool television exposure on standardized test scores later in life. Our preferred point estimate indicates that an additional year of preschool television exposure raises average test scores by about .02 standard deviations. We are able to reject negative effects larger than...

A national survey of mass media scholars was conducted to answer the question, "What impact do you believe television has on children? The 486 scholars' beliefs are provocative, indicate a disparity exists between published empirical reports and the personal beliefs held by scholars and suggests a research agenda for future mass communication research. Perhaps most interestingly, a negative rel...

Bedtime activities, sleep environment, and their impact on sleep/wake patterns were assessed in 509 elementary school children (6-12 years of age; 252 males and 257 females). Television viewing, playing video games, and surfing the Internet had negative impact on sleep/wake parameters. Moreover, presence of a television set or video game in the child's bedroom increased their activity before be...

BACKGROUND While excessive television viewing has been associated with negative outcomes in children's welfare, parental co-viewing has been suggested as an effective way to prevent these negative effects. The objective of the present study is to specify some social contexts of co-viewing and to assess whether co-viewing modifies the effects of media on children's TV-related fears. METHODS Th...

The degree to which media contributes to body dissatisfaction, life satisfaction and eating disorder symptoms in teenage girls continues to be debated. The current study examines television, social media and peer competition influences on body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms and life satisfaction in a sample of 237 mostly Hispanic girls. 101 of these girls were reassessed in a later 6...

OBJECTIVE US parents were surveyed to determine the amount of background television that their children are exposed to as well as to isolate demographic factors associated with increased exposure to background television. After this, we ask how certain home media practices are linked to children's background television exposure. METHODS US parents/caregivers (N = 1454) with 1 child between th...

There is a widespread belief that exposure to television has harmful effects on children’s cognitive development. While a few studies on historical data contradict this belief most research that uses recent data points to a negative correlation between hours of television viewing and cognitive outcomes. The causality, however, is far from established. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Y...

BACKGROUND There are no published studies evaluating the impact of introduction of television on disordered eating in media-naïve populations. AIMS To assess the impact of novel, prolonged exposure to television on disordered eating attitudes and behaviours among ethnic Fijian adolescent girls. METHOD A prospective, multi-wave cross-sectional design was used to compare two samples of Fijian...

INTRODUCTION American's history of exposure to violent media has spanned more than a century, from the film The Great Train Robbery to the television show "Dragnet" to the video game Far Cry 2. Through films, television shows, music, and video games, people in all modern societies consume violent entertainment media on a regular basis. There is also a long history of concern that exposure to vi...