URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/03/29/MN65503.DTL
Young teens who watch more than an hour of television a day are nearly four times as likely to commit aggressive acts in later years than those who watch less than an hour, says the nation's first long-term look at television and violence.
The 17-year study, to be published in today's issue of the journal Science, studied 707 children from adolescence to early adulthood. Researchers found a "significant association" between television viewing and later violence by both boys and girls, although the effect was most striking in boys.
"Our findings suggest that, at least during early adolescence, responsible parents should avoid permitting their children to watch more than one hour of television a day," said co-author Jeffrey Johnson of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Participants in the study were grouped by how much daily television they watched. Here is what the researchers found when they looked back at the television habits of participants about 14 years old:
28.8 percent of those who watched more than three hours of television each day went on, in their teens or late 20s, to commit aggressive acts against others.
22.5 percent of those who watched more than an hour each day went on to commit aggressive acts.
5.7 percent of those who watched less than an hour each day later committed aggressive acts.
Boys tended to show aggression during adolescence -- fights with injuries, for example. Violence among girls showed up mainly in early adulthood, primarily through threats and even robbery.
"It's quite surprising," Johnson said. "We certainly wouldn't have predicted what we found."
An average hour of prime-time television portrays three to five violent acts, while an hour of children's television shows 20 to 25 violent acts, the study says.
Few experts have had a chance to read the study. But several who work in the fields of youth, violence and television said they would not jump to lay blame directly on television.
"It is always possible that violence-prone children are more likely to find violent television appealing and watch it more often," said Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston.
Levin, who has written books and articles on murder, youth violence and school massacres, said the study was nevertheless valuable because it tracked youngsters for such a long time, showing that the cumulative effect of television "is connected to aggressive behavior," if not the main cause.
The study's authors, however, say that television's effect "remained significant" after they controlled for other factors besides TV that may affect violent behavior -- childhood neglect, neighborhood violence and psychiatric disorders, among others.
"I'm very wary, always, of simple answers in the complexities of adolescence," said Sonny Fox, who hosted a children's variety show on television for many years during the 1960s and '70s.
But Fox is no stranger to the direct affect of television on audiences. He is now senior vice president with Population Communications International, which produces one of the few television programs ever credited with having a direct, measurable effect on its audience: Its soap operas portraying husbands and wives talking to each other openly about family planning have long been credited with reducing fertility rates in Mexico, Tanzania and other nations.
Currently, Fox is working on a soap opera project in China intended to save the lives of baby girls by portraying families that want them. He also has worked with soap opera writers and producers in the United States to inject healthful messages into the story lines.
"Are kids impressionable? You bet they are. Do they remember stuff? You bet, " said Fox, who gets weekly e-mails from fans of his old show, "Wonderama." "But when you look at all the other inputs from home -- music lyrics, school, home, the street -- it's all there. So I'd caution against pinning an outcome on a single issue."
Earlier studies have suggested a link between television watching and violent behavior, but none has taken a long-term look.
In the new study, researchers interviewed the young people and their mothers separately four times between 1975 and 1993, and they also relied on public records of arrests and criminal charges.
The children were randomly selected, and 91 percent were white.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov@sfchronicle.com.
TV's violent effect on youth
Adolescents who watch more television are more prone to violent behavior later
in life, a new study shows.
.P
Percentage of youth who acted aggressively at ages 16 or 20, based on number
of hours of TV watched at age 14:
Male Female
One hour or less 8.9 2.3
One to three hours 32.5 11.8
Three or more hours 45.2 12.7
.
Note: The study was conducted over a 17-year interval with 707 individuals.
Source: Science
Associated Press Graphic
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 2
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/03/29/MN65503.DTL
Young teens who watch more than an hour of television a day are nearly four times as likely to commit aggressive acts in later years than those who watch less than an hour, says the nation's first long-term look at television and violence.
The 17-year study, to be published in today's issue of the journal Science, studied 707 children from adolescence to early adulthood. Researchers found a "significant association" between television viewing and later violence by both boys and girls, although the effect was most striking in boys.
"Our findings suggest that, at least during early adolescence, responsible parents should avoid permitting their children to watch more than one hour of television a day," said co-author Jeffrey Johnson of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Participants in the study were grouped by how much daily television they watched. Here is what the researchers found when they looked back at the television habits of participants about 14 years old:
28.8 percent of those who watched more than three hours of television each day went on, in their teens or late 20s, to commit aggressive acts against others.
22.5 percent of those who watched more than an hour each day went on to commit aggressive acts.
5.7 percent of those who watched less than an hour each day later committed aggressive acts.
Boys tended to show aggression during adolescence -- fights with injuries, for example. Violence among girls showed up mainly in early adulthood, primarily through threats and even robbery.
"It's quite surprising," Johnson said. "We certainly wouldn't have predicted what we found."
An average hour of prime-time television portrays three to five violent acts, while an hour of children's television shows 20 to 25 violent acts, the study says.
Few experts have had a chance to read the study. But several who work in the fields of youth, violence and television said they would not jump to lay blame directly on television.
"It is always possible that violence-prone children are more likely to find violent television appealing and watch it more often," said Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston.
Levin, who has written books and articles on murder, youth violence and school massacres, said the study was nevertheless valuable because it tracked youngsters for such a long time, showing that the cumulative effect of television "is connected to aggressive behavior," if not the main cause.
The study's authors, however, say that television's effect "remained significant" after they controlled for other factors besides TV that may affect violent behavior -- childhood neglect, neighborhood violence and psychiatric disorders, among others.
"I'm very wary, always, of simple answers in the complexities of adolescence," said Sonny Fox, who hosted a children's variety show on television for many years during the 1960s and '70s.
But Fox is no stranger to the direct affect of television on audiences. He is now senior vice president with Population Communications International, which produces one of the few television programs ever credited with having a direct, measurable effect on its audience: Its soap operas portraying husbands and wives talking to each other openly about family planning have long been credited with reducing fertility rates in Mexico, Tanzania and other nations.
Currently, Fox is working on a soap opera project in China intended to save the lives of baby girls by portraying families that want them. He also has worked with soap opera writers and producers in the United States to inject healthful messages into the story lines.
"Are kids impressionable? You bet they are. Do they remember stuff? You bet, " said Fox, who gets weekly e-mails from fans of his old show, "Wonderama." "But when you look at all the other inputs from home -- music lyrics, school, home, the street -- it's all there. So I'd caution against pinning an outcome on a single issue."
Earlier studies have suggested a link between television watching and violent behavior, but none has taken a long-term look.
In the new study, researchers interviewed the young people and their mothers separately four times between 1975 and 1993, and they also relied on public records of arrests and criminal charges.
The children were randomly selected, and 91 percent were white.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov@sfchronicle.com.
TV's violent effect on youth
Adolescents who watch more television are more prone to violent behavior later
in life, a new study shows.
.P
Percentage of youth who acted aggressively at ages 16 or 20, based on number
of hours of TV watched at age 14:
Male Female
One hour or less 8.9 2.3
One to three hours 32.5 11.8
Three or more hours 45.2 12.7
.
Note: The study was conducted over a 17-year interval with 707 individuals.
Source: Science
Associated Press Graphic
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 2