TV habits and smoking in children

According to research findings, children and adolescents who spend a lot of time glued to the television are more likely to take up smoking than those who spend two or less hours watching television every day. Researchers at the Children's Hospital and Health Centre in San Diego, California examined the association of television viewing among children (10 to 15 years) with smoking initiation. Among these youth, smoking increased from 4.8% in 1990 to 12.3% in 1992. Children who reported watching five hours or more of television per day were nearly six times as likely to take up smoking as their peers who watched the least amount of television. Those who watched four or more hours of daily TV were about five times as likely to take up smoking. The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends that children should watch no more than two hours of quality--i.e. educational and non-violent—television programmes per day. These results should alert parents, educators, and health professionals to the possibility that active efforts to discourage television viewing by youth may be an effective strategy for reducing the incidence of smoking and possibly other high-risk behaviours. Interventions to reduce television viewing may also reduce youth smoking initiation.