Television has long been blamed as the reason for bad behavior in children, but a new study reveals that it can actually improve how children interact with others.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, focused on analyzing preschool-aged children who watched whatever they wanted versus children who were limited to watching educational programming.
The findings showed that the group of children who watched whatever they wanted displayed more aggressive behavior than those who just watched educational programming.
"Here we have an experiment that proposes a potential solution," said Dr. Thomas N. Robinson, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University. "Giving this intervention -- exposing kids to less adult television, less aggression on television and more prosocial television -- will have an effect on behavior."
The study's researchers split up 565 parents of children ages 3 to 5 into two groups and were instructed to log their children's television viewing practices in a diary.
Researchers analyzed the data based on whether the programming was violent or prosocial -- content displaying empathy.
One group of parents were given instructions that recommended certain programming deemed appropriate for young children and newsletters that encouraged parents to watch television with their children. This group of parents also regularly spoke to researchers via a monthly phone call and helped to establish television consumption goals for their children.
But the other group of parents, the control group, was simply given dietary advice for their children.
Researchers evaluated both groups after six months and then again after a year to assess the children's social behavior and found that the group who was given advice on what their children should watch displayed less aggressive behavior than the control group.
And the children with parents who were instructed to limit their children to positive programming also performed better on social competence tests.
"The take-home message for parents is it's not just about turning off the TV; it's about changing the channel," said Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, the study's lead author and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. "We want our children to behave better and changing their media diet is a good way to do that."
Both groups watched the same amount of television.
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