Abstract
BackgroundTelevision (TV) viewing has been associated with many undesirable outcomes for children, such as increased risk of obesity, but TV viewing can also have benefits. Although restrictive parenting practices are effective in reducing children’s TV viewing, not all parents use them and it is currently unclear why. The current study examined parenting practices related to TV viewing in the context of social- cognitive theory. Specifically, we hypothesized that positive and negative Parental Outcome Expectations for child’s TV Viewing (POETV) would be associated with social co-viewing and restrictive parenting practices, and that POETV and parenting practices influence the amount of TV viewed by child.MethodData were collected from an internet survey of 287 multi-ethnic parents and their 6–12 year old children on participants’ sociodemographic information, parenting practices related to TV use, POETV, and parent and child TV viewing. Path analysis was used to examine the relationship amongst variables in separate models for weekday and weekend TV viewing. controlling for child age, household education, and parental TV viewing.ResultsThe results provided partial support for the hypotheses, with notable differences between weekday and weekend viewing. The models explained 13.6 % and 23.4 % of the variance in children’s TV viewing on weekdays and weekends respectively. Neither positive nor negative POETV were associated with restrictive TV parenting in either model. One subscale each from positive and negative POETV were associated with social co-viewing parenting on both weekends and weekdays in the expected direction. Restrictive parenting practices were directly negatively associated with children’s TV viewing on weekdays, but not weekends. Social co-viewing parenting was directly positively associated with children’s TV viewing on weekends, but not weekdays. The strongest influence on children’s TV viewing was having a TV in the child’s bedroom. Negative POETV was weakly associated with having a TV in the child’s room.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that POETV and parenting may have a greater impact on weekend TV viewing, when children tend to watch more TV, than weekday. The models suggest that POETV, parenting and especially removing the TV from children’s rooms may be promising targets for interventions.
Highlights
Television (TV) viewing has been associated with many undesirable outcomes for children, such as increased risk of obesity, but TV viewing can have benefits
Negative Parental Outcome Expectations for child’s TV Viewing (POETV) was weakly associated with having a TV in the child’s room. These findings suggest that POETV and parenting may have a greater impact on weekend TV viewing, when children tend to watch more TV, than weekday
The models suggest that POETV, parenting and especially removing the TV from children’s rooms may be promising targets for interventions
Summary
Television (TV) viewing has been associated with many undesirable outcomes for children, such as increased risk of obesity, but TV viewing can have benefits. Television viewing is a common childhood behavior [1, 2] that has been linked to a number of positive and negative outcomes. Educational television programs have demonstrated efficacy in teaching children problem solving [3], vocabulary [4], and early reading skills [5]. Other research has demonstrated that television can be an effective medium for promoting health behaviors like smoking cessation [6], eating vegetables [7], and practicing safe sex [8]. Excessive television viewing during childhood has been linked to conduct problems [15, 16], aggressive behavior [17], and fewer social skills [15]. Children who watch more television and/or have a television in their bedroom are more likely than other children to experience sleep difficulties [18]; and television viewing generally has an inverse relationship with school performance and academic achievement among children and adolescents [19,20,21]
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