TV harms parent-child interaction
A study has found background television negatively affects relationships between parents and young children
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By Will Haine. |  |
Tuesday, 15, Sep 2009 05:03
A study has found background television negatively affects relationships between parents and young children.
Researchers in the US found more than a third of American infants and toddlers live in homes where the television is on most of the time, even when no one is watching it.
The study has been published in the journal Child Development, and was undertaken by researchers at the University of Massachusetts. At a university child study centre 50 one-, two-, and three-year-olds were watched in different sessions along with their parents.
One session was conducted in a room with a TV, and one session without. The researchers observed how often parents and children talked with each other, how actively involved the parents were in their children's play, and whether parents and children responded to each other's questions and suggestions.
With the TV on researchers found the quantity and quality of interactions between the children and their parents dropped. Parents spent around 20 per cent less time talking to their children and the quality of the interaction declined, being less active, attentive and responsive.
"Although previous research found that background television disrupts young children's solitary play, this is the first study to demonstrate its impact on the quantity and quality of parent-child interactions," the researchers said.
"Given that high-quality parent-child interaction plays an important role in children's development, the study challenges the common assumption that background TV doesn't affect very young children if they don't look at the screen.
"We need to pay greater attention to children's early, chronic exposure to TV."