Child TV viewing linked to behavior issues

BALTIMORE, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Daily television viewing for two or more hours in early childhood has been linked to behavioral problems and poor social skills, a U.S. study found.

A study of children ages 2.5 to 5.5 years, conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, found that the impact of TV viewing on a child’s behavior and social skills varied by the age at which the viewing occurred, but heavy television viewing that decreased over time was not associated with behavior or social problems.

Lead author Kamila Mistry, a doctoral candidate at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School, analyzed data for 2,707 children collected from the Healthy Steps for Young Children national evaluation. Parents were surveyed about their child’s television viewing habits and behavior at 2.5 and at 5.5 years of age.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that having a television in the child’s bedroom at 5.5 years of age was associated with behavioral problems, poor social skills and poor sleep. Forty-one percent of the children in the study had a television in their bedroom.