TV Exposure Research Articles

TV exposure, attitudes about targeted food ads and brands, and unhealthy consumption by adolescents: Modeling a hierarchical relationship

Public health experts raise concerns that extensive exposure to advertising for calorie-dense nutrient-poor food negatively influences adolescents' diets, but few studies have explored how food advertising affects children over age 12. This study examines adolescents' attitudes about highly targeted unhealthy food brands and assesses the hierarchical relationship between TV exposure, intermediary measures of advertising effects, and healthy and unhealthy food consumption. A cross-sectional online survey of 1566 adolescents (13–17 years) measured TV exposure, attitudes about eight highly advertised teen-targeted food brands and their advertising, and unhealthy and healthy food consumption. A theory-based structural equation model (SEM) tested hypothesized paths from TV exposure to unhealthy food consumption, with attitudes about teen-targeted TV ads and brands as intermediary variables, controlling for healthy food consumption and demographic characteristics. Participants reported high liking of targeted-brand advertising (M = 4.05/5.0, SD = 0.65), strong perceptions that the ads were targeted to someone like them (M = 4.07/5.0, SD = 0.66), positive brand attitudes (M = 4.07/5.0, SD = 0.56), brand popularity (M = 4.01/5.0, SD = 0.63), and consuming the brands a few times in the past month on average. As hypothesized, the SEM supported significant positive paths from TV exposure to ad attitudes (β = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.40–0.60) to brand attitudes (β = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.87–0.92) to unhealthy food consumption (β = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.32–0.50). Contrary to expectations, healthy consumption was positively associated with both brand attitudes (β = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.04–0.18) and unhealthy consumption (β = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.33–0.51). These results further public health concerns about the potential impact of adolescents’ exposure to unhealthy food advertising on brand consumption and unhealthy food consumption more broadly. They also support marketing theories that ad liking and perceived targeting may increase the influence of ad exposure on brand attitudes and unhealthy consumption.

Impact of exposure to mass media on utilization modern contraceptive among adolescent married women in Ethiopia: evidence from Ethiopia demographic health survey 2016

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> More than one billion of world population was adolescent age group. Adolescents are high risk of unwanted pregnancy related to pregnancy is preventable. This complication can be prevented by use of family planning method. One of the challenges to use family planning was lack of information about contraceptive. This study was investigated mass media impact on use of modern contraceptive among adolescent in Ethiopia, 2016 E. C.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This study conducted based on EDHS (Ethiopia demographic health survey) 2016 data which was cross-sectional study design. Sample size for this study was 588 adolescent married women that completed interview in EDHS 2016. Mass media impact on modern contraceptive use were analyzed using propensity score matching. Recursive biprobit probit model was used to determine factor associated with mass media exposure on modern contraceptive utilization.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> In Ethiopia about 31.8% of adolescent married women currently used modern contraceptive. Expose to family planning message had 16.8%, 13.2%, 17% and 21.9% point higher modern contraceptive use than unexposed to mass media message. In this study significant factor affected modern contraceptive use included residence, wealth index, radio message, exposed to TV message, magazine message and exposure to mass media message family planning.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> This study shows magnitude of contraceptive utilization was low and it might be due to lack of information about family planning. Therefore, policy maker and concerned body should consider dissemination family of planning information by mass media.</p>

TV exposure and food consumption patterns-evidence from Indonesia.

Using cross-sectional survey data from Indonesia from 2007 and 2014, this study estimates the effect of the number of available television channels during childhood on food consumption later in life with a focus on unhealthy food items. To address endogeneity of television signal strength, I exploit exogenous variations in television signal quality due to random diffractions caused by topography within a small area. Using an instrumental variables approach the results suggest that exposure to television during youth of the household head has a positive effect on household-level snack and soft drink expenditures. At the individual level I document more frequent consumption of soft drinks. Additional analysis suggests that households shift their consumption basket at the expense of vegetables and staples. Finally, heterogeneous effects analysis imply that results are driven by young individuals who are younger than 24 years old.

Contribution of Verbally Aggressive TV Exposure and Perceived Reality to Trait Verbal Aggression

This study examined the contributions of verbally aggressive TV exposure and perceived reality to trait verbal aggression. Verbally aggressive TV exposure, categorized by genre, was assessed by respondents’ (N = 591) frequency of viewing 60 TV shows popular among college students and then coded for their verbally aggressive content. A hierarchical regression, controlling for demographic variables, overall TV viewing, and social desirability, found exposure to TV comedies and the utility and social realism dimensions of perceived reality to be significant positive predictors of participants’ trait verbal aggression. However, there were no interaction effects among the TV genre exposure indexes and the perceived reality subscales.

Limiting Television to Reduce Childhood Obesity: Cost-Effectiveness of Five Population Strategies.

Objective: To quantify the potential population-wide costs, number of individuals reached, and impact on obesity of five effective interventions to reduce children's television viewing if implemented nationally.Study Design: Utilizing evidence from systematic reviews, the Childhood Obesity Intervention Cost Effectiveness Study (CHOICES) microsimulation model estimated the cost, population reach, and impact on childhood obesity from 2020 to 2030 of five hypothetical policy strategies to reduce the negative impact of children's TV exposure: (1) eliminating the tax deductibility of food and beverage advertising; (2) targeting TV reduction during home visiting programs; (3) motivational interviewing to reduce home television time at Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinic visits; (4) adoption of a television-reduction curriculum in child care; and (5) limiting noneducational television in licensed child care settings.Results: Eliminating the tax deductibility of food advertising could reach the most children [106 million, 95% uncertainty interval (UI): 105–107 million], prevent the most cases of obesity (78,700, 95% UI: 30,200–130,000), and save more in health care costs than it costs to implement. Strategies targeting young children in child care and WIC also cost little to implement (between $0.19 and $32.73 per child reached), and, although reaching fewer children because of the restricted age range, were estimated to prevent between 25,500 (95% UI: 4600–59,300) and 35,400 (95% UI: 13,200–62,100) cases of obesity. Home visiting to reduce television viewing had high costs and a low reach.Conclusions: Interventions to reduce television exposure across a range of settings, if implemented widely, could help prevent childhood obesity in the population at relatively low cost.

Links between television exposure and toddler dysregulation: Does culture matter?

Television exposure in early childhood has increased, with concerns raised regarding adverse effects on social-emotional development, and emerging self-regulation in particular. The present study addressed television exposure (i.e., amount of time watching TV) and its associations with toddler behavioral/emotional dysregulation, examining potential differences across 14 cultures. The sample consisted of an average of 60 toddlers from each of the 14 countries from the Joint Effort Toddler Temperament Consortium (JETTC; Gartstein & Putnam, 2018). Analyses were conducted relying on the multi-level modeling framework (MLM), accounting for between- and within-culture variability, and examining the extent to which TV exposure contributions were universal vs. variable across sites. Effects of time watching TV were evaluated in relation to temperament reactivity and regulation, as well as measures of emotional reactivity, attention difficulties, and aggression. Results indicated that more time spent watching TV was associated with higher ratings on Negative Emotionality, emotional reactivity, aggression, and attention problems, as well as lower levels of soothability. However, links between TV exposure and both attention problems and soothability varied significantly between cultures. Taken together, results demonstrate that increased time spent watching television was generally associated with dysregulation, although effects were not consistently uniform, but rather varied as a function of culturally-dependent contextual factors.

Eating behaviour, physical activity, TV exposure and sleeping habits in five year olds: a latent class analysis

BackgroundDiet, physical activity, sedentary behaviours, and sleep time are considered major contributory factors of the increased prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. The aims of this study were to (1) identify behavioural clusters of 5 year old children based on lifestyle behaviours, (2) explore potential determinants of class membership, and (3) to determine if class membership was associated with body measure outcomes at 5 years of age.MethodsData on eating behaviour, engagement in active play, TV watching, and sleep duration in 1229 5 year old children from the Cork BASELINE birth cohort study was obtained through in-person interviews with parent. Latent class analysis was used to identify behavioural clusters. Potential determinants of cluster membership were investigated using multinomial logistic regression. Associations between the identified classes and cardio metabolic body measures were examined using multivariate logistic and linear regression, with cluster membership used as the independent variable.Results51% of children belonged to a normative class, while 28% of children were in a class characterised by high scores on food avoidance scales in combination with low enjoyment of food, and 20% experienced high scores on the food approach scales. Children in both these classes had lower conditional probabilities of engaging in active play for at least 1 hour per day and sleeping for a minimum of 10 h, and higher probability of watching TV for 2 hours or more, compared to the normative class. Low socioeconomic index (SEI) and no breastfeeding at 2 months were found to be associated with membership of the class associated with high scores on the food avoidance scale, while lower maternal education was associated with the class defined by high food approach scores. Children in the class with high scores on the food approach scales had higher fat mass index (FMI), lean mass index (LMI), and waist-to-height ratio (WtHR) compared to the normative class, and were at greater risk of overweight and obesity.ConclusionFindings suggest that eating behaviour appeared to influence overweight and obesity risk to a greater degree than activity levels at 5 years old. Further research of how potentially obesogenic behaviours in early life track over time and influence adiposity and other cardio metabolic outcomes is crucial to inform the timing of interventions.

Challenging the Link Between Early Childhood Television Exposure and Later Attention Problems: A Multiverse Approach

In 2004, Christakis and colleagues published findings that he and others used to argue for a link between early childhood television exposure and later attention problems, a claim that continues to be frequently promoted by the popular media. Using the same National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data set (N = 2,108), we conducted two multiverse analyses to examine whether the finding reported by Christakis and colleagues was robust to different analytic choices. We evaluated 848 models, including logistic regression models, linear regression models, and two forms of propensity-score analysis. If the claim were true, we would expect most of the justifiable analyses to produce significant results in the predicted direction. However, only 166 models (19.6%) yielded a statistically significant relationship, and most of these employed questionable analytic choices. We concluded that these data do not provide compelling evidence of a harmful effect of TV exposure on attention.

Public Opinion Views on Immigrants’ Contribution to the Local Economy: the Role of TV Exposure

Public Opinion Views on Immigrants’ Contribution to the Local Economy: the Role of TV Exposure

Screen exposure exacerbates ADHD symptoms indirectly through increased sleep disturbance

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was twofold. First, to confirm the deleterious aspect of evening screen exposure in school-aged children, in particular the effect of screens in the bedroom. Second, to explore the three-way association between degree of screen exposure, sleep disturbance, and ADHD symptoms. Solid evidence exists on the link between sleep disturbance and ADHD symptoms, and screen exposure and sleep disturbance. However, no studies have formally assessed the impact of screen exposure on ADHD symptoms in children, as a function of sleep disturbance. MethodsParents of 374 French children (201 girls, 173 boys, mean age of 10.8 ± 2.8 years old) completed the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC), the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Rating Scale, and a questionnaire about their children's screen habits (total hours in the morning, afternoon, and evening per day). Correlational analyses between evening screen exposure, sleep quality and behavioral problems were conducted. Then, formal mediation analyses were run in order to quantify the relationship between variables. ResultsSchool-aged children with screens in their bedrooms demonstrated more sleep and behavioral problems. Evening TV exposure was associated with higher SDSC and ADHD scores. Furthermore, the Structural Equation Modelling approach confirmed that evening screen exposure is directly associated with more disrupted sleep, which in turn is directly associated with behavioral problems. ConclusionsThese findings encourage families to avoid putting screens in their children's bedrooms, and limit evening screen exposure. They furthermore demonstrate the importance of taking into account screen exposure time (morning, afternoon, evening) and location (bedroom or elsewhere) in future studies.

How effective is family counselling on screen exposure of pre-school children?

Excessive screen viewing and background TV exposure are common problems all over the world. Therefore, intervention studies have gained importance. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of family-based, developmental pediatrics clinic setting counseling in reducing screen time in typically developing children and to compare them with neurodevelopmental disorders. Children (aged 24-62 months) who were exposed to screen viewing for at least 2 hours/day were included. Parents were given three counseling sessions to reduce excessive screen time. Parents reported daily screen time, co-viewing, background TV exposure, the duration of reading books and playing with their child. The study included 105 children (median age: 34 months IQR:28-41). Before counseling, the screen viewing time and the percentage of co-viewing among typically developing children (n=22) and children with a neurodevelopmental disorder (n=83) were similar. There was a statistically significant decrease in screen time in both groups after the intervention. A higher impact was shown in the neurodevelopmental disorder group. The increase in percentages of co-viewing, as well as the increase in the time spent playing with their children, were statistically significant in the neurodevelopmental disorder group. The study demonstrated that three pediatric office-setting counseling sessions including media use recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics are effective to decrease screen time for children who are either typically developing or with a neurodevelopmental disorder.

Exposure to Verbally and Physically Aggressive TV: In Search of a Cross-over Effect

ABSTRACT This study examined the contribution of verbally aggressive and physically aggressive TV exposure to self-reported verbal and physical aggression. Verbally aggressive TV exposure was calculated by respondents’ frequency of viewing 60 TV shows found to be popular among college students and coded for their aggressive content. A total of 637 emerging adults were surveyed for the main study. A path analyses using SPSS Amos with verbal and physical aggression as the primary endogenous variables was used to analyze the data. Exposure to physically aggressive TV programming was found to have a direct effect on self-reported verbal and physical aggression while exposure to verbally aggressive programming had an indirect effect via exposure to physically aggressive programming, thus partially supporting a “cross-over effect.” Additionally, verbal aggression was found to be a positive predictor of physical aggression, both in real life and on the screen.

Associations among exposure to television or video, language development, and school achievement in childhood: a prospective birth cohort study.

Exposure to electronic media, which begins in early childhood, has been gradually increasing. This study investigated the associations between time watching television or video (TV time), children's language development, and school achievement using a large prospective design. The participants underwent annual assessment from birth (T1; 5.5months) to T8 (87.9months). We used a parental questionnaire to evaluate TV time annually from T3 (2.2years) to T8 (7.3years), by the item asking "How many hours does your child usually spend a day watching TV or videos?". Children were grouped by TV time using group-based trajectory analysis. Among 2150 participants, 1087 were included in the final analysis. The Korean version of the Denver II and the Korean-Ages and Stages questionnaires were administered to evaluate early childhood development (T1 to T3). The Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test was used to assess children's language development at T8. Questionnaires completed by both parents and teachers were used to evaluate school achievement at T8. Participants were divided into "Low Descending" (LD), "Medium Flat" (MF), "High Ascending" (HA), and "Extremely High Descending" (XHD) groups. Early language development at T1 and T2 did not significantly differ among all groups. However, language development at T3 and T8, and school achievement at T8 differed significantly, and were the highest in LD and lowest in HA. We found a negative association between greater TV time and children's language and cognitive development. Thus, unchecked TV exposure could be detrimental to childhood cognitive development.

Relationships of TV exposure and images of people with disabilities

Relationships of TV exposure and images of people with disabilities

Lifestyle-Related Factors and Total Mortality in a Mediterranean Prospective Cohort

Lifestyle-related habits have a strong influence on morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study investigates the association between a multidimensional healthy lifestyle score and all-cause mortality risk, including in the score some less-studied lifestyle-related factors. Participants (n=20,094) of the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra cohort were followed up from 1999 to 2018. The analysis was conducted in 2019. A 10-point healthy lifestyle score previously associated with a lower risk of major cardiovascular events was applied, assigning 1 point to each of the following items: never smoking, moderate-to-high physical activity, moderate-to-high Mediterranean diet adherence, healthy BMI, moderate alcohol consumption, avoidance of binge drinking, low TV exposure, short afternoon nap, time spent with friends, and working ≥40 hours per week. During a median follow-up of 10.8 years, 407 deaths were documented. In the multivariable adjusted analysis, the highest category of adherence to the score (7-10 points) showed a 60% lower risk of all-cause mortality than the lowest category (0-3 points) (hazard ratio=0.40, 95% CI=0.27, 0.60, p<0.001 for trend). In analyses of the healthy lifestyle score as a continuous variable, for each additional point in the score, a 18% relatively lower risk of all-cause mortality was observed (adjusted hazard ratio=0.82, 95% CI=0.76, 0.88). Adherence to a healthy lifestyle score, including some less-studied lifestyle-related factors, was longitudinally associated with a substantially lower mortality rate in a Mediterranean cohort. Comprehensive health promotion should be a public health priority.

The effects of five public information campaigns: The role of interpersonal communication

Abstract For five Dutch public information campaigns, this study assessed whether interpersonal communication mediated the effects of exposure (to TV, radio, or online banners) on five persuasive outcomes: awareness, knowledge, attitude, intention, and self-reported behavior. Structural equation modeling was used to test 23 models relating exposure to one of these outcome variables. Few direct effects of media exposure were found (for online banners, TV, and radio in, respectively, one, four, and seven of the 23 models). In contrast, results revealed that interpersonal communication had direct effects on the outcomes in 17 of the 23 models. Moreover, indirect effects of media exposure via interpersonal communication were found for online banner, TV, and radio exposure in, respectively, eight, nine, and ten models. These results indicate that interpersonal communication plays an important role in explaining media exposure persuasive effects and should be taken into account in the development and evaluation of public information campaigns.

Clusters of diet, physical activity, television exposure and sleep habits and their association with adiposity in preschool children: the EDEN mother-child cohort

BackgroundDespite the growing interest in the relation between adiposity in children and different lifestyle clusters, few studies used a longitudinal design to examine a large range of behaviors in various contexts, in particular eating- and sleep-related routines, and few studies have examined these factors in young children. The objectives of this study were to identify clusters of boys and girls based on diet, sleep and activity-related behaviors and their family environment at 2 and 5 years of age, and to assess whether the clusters identified varied across maternal education levels and were associated with body fat at age 5.MethodsAt 2 and 5 years, respectively, 1436 and 1195 parents from the EDEN mother-child cohort completed a questionnaire including behavioral data. A latent class analysis aimed to uncover gender-specific behavioral clusters. Body fat percentage was estimated by anthropometric and bioelectrical impedance measurements. Association between cluster membership and body fat was assessed with mutivariable linear regression models.ResultsAt 2 years, two clusters emerged that were essentially characterized by opposite eating habits. At 5 years, TV exposure was the most distinguishing feature, but the numbers and types of clusters differed by gender. An association between cluster membership and body fat was found only in girls at 5 years of age, with girls in the cluster defined by very high TV exposure and unfavorable mealtime habits (despite high outdoor playing and walking time) having the highest body fat. Girls whose mother had low educational attainment were more likely to be in this high-risk cluster. Girls who were on a cluster evolution path corresponding to the highest TV viewing time and the least favorable mealtime habits from 2 to 5 years of age had higher body fat at 5 years.ConclusionsEfforts to decrease TV time and improve mealtime routines may hold promise for preventing overweight in young children, especially girls growing up in disadvantaged families. These preventive efforts should start as early in life as possible, ideally before the age of two, and should be sustained over the preschool years.

Pope Breaking News: The Effect of TV Coverage on Electoral Success and Financial Markets

I exploit an exogenous change in politicians’ broadcast visibility to study how candidates’ TV exposure during campaign impacts voting behavior. Right before the 2013 Italian general election, the Pope Benedict XVI suddenly resigned and broadcast coverage of politics markedly dropped. I find that TV exposure can be pivotal in a close election: the lower visibility of the rightwing leader and media tycoon Berlusconi (-26 percentage points) caused a 2 percentage points dip in his vote share, sufficient for his defeat. The cap to politicians’ TV exposure favored the entrance of new players in the political arena. After the “Pope news”, part of Berlusconi’s electorate resorted to Internet for political news; voters exposed to a different information environment then favored a new party with Internet-centred propaganda.

Tv Exposure and Mother Child Playtime as Risk Factors for Mother Child Relationship in Early Childhood

The objective of this study was to examine the associations of tv exposure, playtime with children and mother child relationship. Correlational research method was considered for this study. Sample size was 73 mothers whose children’s ages change between 50 and 74 months of age from the largest city Istanbul (33 boys and 40 girls). Turkish version of Child Parent Relationship Scale, family demographic characteristics form and a questionnaire (short answered questions about playtime and tv exposure hours) were used as data collection tools. Bivariate analyses using t tests, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation coefficient were conducted. Multiple linear regression was run to examine associations between TV exposure, play time and mother child relationship. Mothers and children had a high level of positive relationship in the current study. Mothers’ education level, mothers’ age, parents’ work hours and children’s gender and order of birth which were assumed to have a link with mother child relationship didn’t make a significant difference on mother child relationship scores. The link was presented between tv exposure, playtime with children and mother child relationships via regression results. It was concluded that mothers who play with their children more were expected to have higher mother child relationship scores, after controlling for the household tv exposure. Household tv exposure had a significant negative weight, indicating that after accounting for playtime between mothers and children, participants who stated higher household tv exposure were expected to have lower mother child relationship scores.

Disaster-related media exposure and its impact on mental health.

Disaster-related media exposure and its impact on mental health.