Television Viewing Patterns of Families with Young Infants

Abstract

Summary The purpose of this study was twofold; (a) to compare different methods of assessing television viewing patterns, (b) to examine the relationship between parental viewing and infant exposure to television in the home. Sixty parents kept diary records of television programs watched for one week, recalled programs watched in a previous week, and estimated the number of hours of television they watched per day. Results indicate that estimates were significantly (p < .001) longer than either diary records or recall measures which did not differ. In addition, infant exposure to television (2 hours per day) was correlated with mother's age, but not socioeconomic status of the family. Results are discussed in terms of the relative merits of different methods for assessing television viewing patterns and specific relationships between parental viewing habits and subsequent infant exposure to television.