The proposed research has two major purposes: (a) to identify patterns of developmental continuity and change in children's early television viewing, and (b) to investigate how those patterns are related to family environmental influences and to children's cognitive skills and social behavior. The television set has a 4- or 5-year head start on the schools as a socializing agent and teacher of young children. Its establishment as a medium of learning precedes that of print media by a similar lead. Yet little is known about the processes by which preschool children come to use television. The proposal is to analyze a large set of longitudinal data on home TV viewing of children from 3 - 5, and from 5 - 7 years old. Two cohorts (1976 and 1978) of about 160 children each participated. Each family kept a diary of all TV viewing in the home for all family members for one week every six months (five waves during two years). Subject retention is 85% or better and attrition effects appear negligible. Families live in Topeka, KS and represent a wide range of SES. Parent interviews and individual tests of children were collected both before and after the two-year period of viewing diaries. Although total television viewing will be examined, children's viewing of particular categories of programs (e.g., cartoons, educational shows) is the focus of most of the planned analyses. The first major objective will be pursued by examining the viewing data for developmental patterns of viewing within program categories, for stability over time, and for developmental progressions from viewing one program type to another. The second major objective will entail analyses of family environmental characteristics as predictors and correlates of children's viewing patterns. Children's viewing histories will, in turn, be examined as predictors of their (a) cognitive skills and competencies (e.g., vocabulary), (b) implicit knowledge of television forms and formats (e.g., cues for fictional vs. real content), (c) actual processing of television (e.g., atention and comprehension), and (d) social behavior (e.g., aggression and prosocial behavior). The information generated about satiation vs. addiction to TV's perceptual attributes, the likely antecedents of children's earliest viewing habits, family correlates of viewing, and developmentally significant cognitive and social outcomes have important implications for the mental health and subsequent development of young children.
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