VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study by Singer et al. was to examine the ways in which children's family life and TV viewing combine to predict aspects of their conscious experience as well as their social interaction patterns and behavior. METHODOLOGY: A quasi-experimental design was employed using 63 children whose average age was four when data were first obtained in 1977. When final data were obtained in 1982, the average age was close to nine. Initially, the children had been observed during play and rated on their aggressiveness. Parents had maintained detailed TV logs for at least three two-week periods during the previous year. The average weekly TV viewing was 24 hours. In 1980, mothers filled out the Hoffman Child rearing questionnaire which included a series of items about discipline and control, power assertion, physical punishment, and forceful control of the child. Mothers described in detail the family's daily routines, and activities. The measure of parental values was derived from a multitrait-multimethod analysis of self descriptions. The variables hours of sleep and emphasis on outdoor activities were also included. Parents were also asked about the family's use of TV and any restrictions they put on their children. The children were interviewed and tested for cognitive skills, IQ, and knowledge of TV characters. In 1982, the children came to the Yale TV Center for further interviews and to complete a Scary World questionnaire. Dependent variables were beliefs about the world (high scores indicate scary world), physical aggressiveness, behavior in school (high score indicates the child has been disruptive), and motor activity (high score indicates self restraint and lack of restlessness). Multiple regression was used to analyze the data. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: Multiple regression analysis was used to estimate how much combined family and TV variables could predict the scores on the dependent variables. Belief system showed significant positive correlations with TV environment (p AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors suggested that parents, educators and the media industry take a serious look at the possible consequences for the early school-age child of unrestrained viewing of violence on TV. EVALUATION: This study has a strength in being a longer term study than most experiments. A sample of 63 is a large enough one to draw correlations from, though the usual weaknesses of experiments do apply here--artificiality, possibility of a narrow population for generalization, and other impact of the experiment itself. The measures hinged chiefly on parental reports--which the authors argue would underestimate occurrence. However, the possibility of sensitization of the parents to the condition of being part of an experiment cannot be overlooked, for whatever effect it may have. The authors argue for a restraint of the child's exposure which, in some respects may work, but still does not get at the heart of the process through which violence on television affects youth. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - 1970s KW - 1980s KW - Child Aggression KW - Child Development KW - Television Viewing KW - Television Violence KW - Media Violence Effects KW - Exposure to Violence KW - Family Relations KW - Aggression Causes KW - Child Perceptions