TV Affecting Preschooler Behavior

Can watching positive, educational TV programming help preschoolers behave better? That’s what researchers in Seattle wanted to find out.

Little ones imitate what they see on the screen. Therefore the more aggressive the TV shows, the more aggressive the children. Spending less time on violent programming showed significantly less aggression.

In the study, 8-hundred-20 families with young kids were enrolled to see if “healthier” content could impact behavior. Half of the families were asked to replace “aggressive” programming with so-called “pro-social”, educational content. The others were placed in a control group and made no changes in their viewing habits. No attempt was made to reduce the time spent in front of the tube for any of the participants…

The families were followed for a year. At both 6 months and 12 months…the children in the intervention group were spending less time on violent programming…and demonstrated significantly less aggression than those in the control group. The effects lingered until the end of the study.

Bottom line, according to researchers…positive media made a difference.