Early Childhood Television Viewing and Adolescent Behavior, Volume 66, Number 1

The medium of television, although a daily part of most modern lives, remains mysterious in the manner it may influence its audience. At the center of this mysery lies the debate of content vs. medium without regard to its content. This monograph presents new research in this debate by following up on a report of 570 adolescents studied as preschoolers and the long-term relationships between preschool television viewing and adolescent achievement, behavior, and attitudes. The results of the report provide stron support for content-based hypotheses then for theories emphasizing television as a medium. In an interesting twist, the results of the report trace a cognitive difference in the patterns of boys and girls and the way television influences them. Abstract.

1. Introduction.

2. Method Overview.

3. Media Use in Adolescence.

4. Academic Achievement.

5. Creativity.

6. Aggression.

7. Extracurricular Activities.

8. Health Behaviors.

9. Self-Image: Role Model Preference and Body Image.

10. Summary and Conclusions.

Commentary: Children and Adolescents in a Changing Media World.

Contributors.

Statement of Editorial Policy.

Professor Anderson teaches Psychology at University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Huston is Professor of Child Development at University of Texas, Austin; Schmitt is a Research Fellow at the Annenberg School Linebarger and Assistant Research Professor at the Juniper Gardens Project and affiliate of the Schiedfelbusch Institute for Life Spwan Studies at the University of Kansas; This Monograph reports a follow-up investigation of children whose early use of television was evaluated at age 5. The follow-up took place more than a decade later when they were in high school. Early viewing of educational and informative TV was related to higher high school grades in English, Science, and Math. Differences in intelligence, parental education, income, or birth order were not causal. The benefit of early educational viewing for later years was stronger for boys than for girls. The opposite was true of the negative impact of early exposure to entertainment cartoons. It was harmful for girls, but not a bad for boys. The medium of television is not homogeneous in its impact on children. Instead, it depends on what they watch and whether they are more vulnerable to neglecting the good programming (boys), or to watching the bad programming (girls), just before their first experience with schooling begins.