Just because a TV show or movie is made for kids, doesn't
mean it's good for them, explained the lead researcher of a
study that linked television to aggressive behavior in children.
The study revealed that younger children who watch television are
more likely to become bullies, mainly due to the increasingly violent
nature of animated videos and cartoons.
Researchers compared existing data from a national study of more
than 1,250 4-year-olds to follow-up reports with their mothers later
on (between ages 6-11), specifically to learn if their kids had
become crueler to others or had indeed become bullies. The numbers
tallied are shocking:
-
Four-year-olds were 25 percent
more likely to become bullies if they watched merely the average
daily amount of television--3.5 hours.
-
Kids who watched eight hours of TV a day were 200
percent more likely to become bullies.
-
Thirteen percent of the
kids surveyed eventually became bullies.
Violent animated shows are causing kids to become "desensitized"
to violence. Therefore, researchers suggested parents follow the
American Academy of Pediatric guidelines, which recommend no TV
for children under 2 and no more than two hours of viewing time
a day for older kids.
Aside from bullying, other potential negative influences of watching
too much TV include obesity, inattention and other types of aggression.
A Ray of Hope
Yet unlike other studies that focus on TV
viewing, researchers of this study found that in addition to
eliminating or severely limiting viewing time, kids were almost
one-third less likely to become bullies if they received:
Archives
of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine April 2005;159(4):384-388
New
Scientist April 5, 2005
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