Television Viewing in Child Care Programs: A National Survey

Abstract

Although the amount of television that young children watch at home is well-described, to date no study has examined how much television preschool children watch in day care settings. We performed a cross-sectional analysis using the Profile of Child Care Settings Study, examining predictors of television viewing in center (n = 2089) and home-based (n = 583) child care programs. On average, preschool-aged children were reported to watch more than four times as much television while at home-based programs than at center-based programs (1.39 hours per day vs 0.36 hours per day); with significant differences between groups in the type of television content viewed, and in the proportions of programs in which no television viewing occurred at all. The proportion of programs where preschool-aged children watched no television during the child care day was 65% in center-based programs and 11% in home-based programs. The hours a program was open each day was associated with increased television viewing in both settings; provision of after-school care to older children and being in a county with high family poverty rates were only significant factors in center-based programs. Factors associated with decreased television viewing included post-secondary education of staff members, as well as the average staff volume of the program. Preschool children in day care settings watch a considerable amount of television in addition to what is viewed at home. These results further highlight the urgent need to better understand the effects of viewing on young children.