TV violence bad for children

Preschool boys who watch violent TV programmes, even in the form of cartoons, may be more aggressive than their peers later in childhood. Preschoolers watch a lot of TV, and a lot of it is inappropriate for them. Programmes that many parents do not think contain violence include cartoons. Preschool children cannot distinguish between cartoon violence—where a character can get clubbed on the head, see stars for a moment and then recover—and real life. The problem is that such programmes portray violence as amusing and suggest that it has no consequences. Previous studies have pointed to links between media violence and tendency in children and teenagers toward real violence. But little of this research has focused on preschool children. To better understand the relation, researchers from the Child Health Institute, Seattle evaluated data for 184 boys and 146 girls. Parents of these children supplied data on television viewing of their children when they were between the ages of 2 and 5 years. When the children were 7–9 years old, their parents completed a questionnaire on typical child behavioural problems. It was found that boys exposed to TV violence in their preschool years were more likely to show aggressive behaviour later on after they started elementary school. In contrast, non-violent shows and educational programs were unrelated to aggressive behaviour. However, no such relationship was seen among girls. The findings suggest that parents should choose educational shows for their preschoolers over those that contain violence, even if it is the cartoon variety. And if at all children do see media violence, parents should talk to them about it, and explain that in real life, violence hurts people.