MONDAY, April 7 (HealthDay News) -- Although your teenager may
poignantly plead that he or she is the
only child left in America without a bedroom television,
health experts recommend that parents stand their ground and keep
TV out of the bedroom.
There seems to be a good reason for this. The latest research,
published in the April issue of the journal
Pediatrics, shows that having a bedroom television not only
leads to more TV viewing, but also results in less time spent with
the family, less time exercising, lower fruit and vegetable intake,
more sweetened beverage consumption, and in lower grades.
"The big take-home message from our study is that TVs should be
removed from kids' bedrooms, and it could have a positive effect on
kids' health," said the study's lead author, Daheia Barr-Anderson,
a postdoctoral fellow at the Adolescent Health Protection Research
Training Program at the University of Minnesota School of Public
Health in Minneapolis.
Health professionals have been warning for years about too much
television watching among young people, and especially about making
the TV set so easily accessible. But past research suggests that
many parents aren't heeding that advice. About 68 percent of
American youngsters have televisions in their bedrooms, according
to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
One large study found that children between ages 8 and 18 spend
more than three hours every day watching television. Numerous
studies have been done to assess TV's effect on young children, but
research on bedroom TVs and older adolescents is scarce, according
to the current study.
Barr-Anderson and her colleagues gathered information on the
presence of a bedroom TV and socio-demographic, behavioral and
personal characteristics through a questionnaire mailed to 781
teens who were an average age of 17.2 years.
The results mirrored past studies. Almost two-thirds of this
group had a TV in their bedroom. Having a personal TV doubled the
risk that a teen would regularly watch more than five hours of TV
daily, compared to teens without a television in the bedroom.
Teenage girls who had a bedroom TV watched an average of 20.7
hours each week, about 5 hours more than female teens without a
bedroom TV (15.2 hours). For boys with TVs, 22.2 hours were spent
in front of the tube, compared to 18.2 hours for boys without
personal TVs.
Both girls and boys with bedroom TVs attended fewer family
dinners -- about one less per week -- than kids without their own
sets. Girls with TVs ate slightly fewer vegetables each day, while
boys with TVs consumed less fruit.
Girls with TVs in their bedrooms participated in less physical
activity, and boys with bedroom TVs had lower grade point
averages.
"For most kids, a TV in the bedroom is not a healthy thing,"
said Anita Gurian, clinical assistant professor of child and
adolescent psychiatry at the New York University Child Study Center
in New York City. "It's not bad for all kids; there are those who
use it constructively, and there is a lot of good stuff on TV, but
it definitely has its downside," she said.
"Parents should know that research has shown TV's deleterious
effects on grades, eating habits, in attraction to violence, and
most importantly, in social relationships," added Gurian. "If teens
are in their bedrooms, watching TV for three hours a day, they
don't have time to develop relationships or to do homework," she
said.
Barr-Anderson said she suspects it's not always an intentional
plan to give the child a TV. Instead, it's usually because the
family has upgraded to a larger TV, and now has a spare set. She
recommended that parents resist the pressure they'll likely feel to
put the extra TV in their teen's bedroom. "You may experience a
backlash, but parents have to do what's best for their child," said
Barr-Anderson.
More information
To learn more about how TV effects your child or teen, visit the
Nemours Foundation's KidsHealth Web site.
