Television viewing and personality structure in children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate a five-factor model of personality as a correlate of child TV-related preferences and experiences as well as duration of TV viewing. A sample of 310 children (133 females and 177 males) was evaluated, with each child completing two self-report questionnaires. The first questionnaire was devoted to exploring the child’s TV-viewing preferences and experiences, such as the presence/absence of TV-characters that children might emulate and their features; the presence/absence of a shocking TV-scene, its description and its adverse psychological effects; and the duration of daily TV viewing. The second questionnaire was a personality inventory: the Big Five Questionnaire for children. Any differences in personality traits were associated to significant patterns in the child’s TV-related preferences. However the experience of a shocking TV-scene was more frequently associated to subsequent adverse psychological effects in children with high levels of extraversion, agreeableness and emotional instability. A longer TV viewing duration was observed in children with high levels of emotional instability and low levels of agreeableness, openness to experience and conscientiousness. The present study provides evidence for a relationship between individual variables (i.e. personality structure) and the TV habits of children.