Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion
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Data: Individuals who watched more weekday television during
their childhood and adolescence had lower levels of educational
attainment and were less likely to have earned a university degree
by the time they were 26 years old when compared to peers who
watched less weekday television...(more) With the arrival of summer break, many parents revisit guidelines on television-watching with their children. Though children may complain, such parental concern is not unfounded. In a study conducted in New Zealand and published in the July 2005 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the oldest journal in U.S. pediatric literature, researchers found that the amount of television children and adolescents watch during the week is negatively associated with their educational outcomes in later life. By age twenty-six, respondents who had obtained a four-year college degree had on average watched less television (48 fewer minutes per weeknight) than their peers who had never completed a formal educational certificate (similar to a high school dropout in the United States) between ages five and fifteen. After taking into account other factors associated with educational achievement -- such as gender, IQ, childhood socioeconomic status, and childhood behavioral problems – researchers reported that increased television viewing during childhood and adolescence was linked to a higher probability of being without a formal certificate and a lower probability of having graduated from college by age twenty-six. Though the authors make no claims that decreasing children’s television viewing hours would necessarily improve children’s educational outcomes in young adulthood, the results of this study do provide evidence that there is a link between time spent in front of the TV during childhood and children’s later academic attainment. |
Other
findings on television-watching and educational attainment:
 Four-year-old children who watched more TV in child care setting scored lower on measures of applied problem-solving, language comprehension, and expressive vocabulary...(more) The amount of time preschoolers spend watching television is related to the likelihood that they will develop serious attention problems...(more) Family Research Experts:
Pat Fagan William H. G. FitzGerald Research Fellow in Family and Cultural Issues Christine Kim Policy Analyst, Domestic Policy Studies Jennifer Marshall Director, Domestic Policy Studies For Interviews call Media Relations at (202) 675-1761 |
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| The Heritage Foundation's familyfacts.org catalogs social science findings on the family, society and religion gleaned from peer-reviewed journals, books and government surveys. Serving policymakers, journalists, scholars and the general public, familyfacts.org makes social science research easily accessible to the non-specialist. | ||
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Resources
Events:Religious Practice and Civic Life: What the Research Says October 4, 2007 |