Comments on: Can TV now hurt a baby’s chance of later success in school? http://childrenshospitalblog.org/can-tv-now-hurt-a-babies%e2%80%99-chance-of-later-success-in-school/ Boston Children's Hospital's pediatric health blog Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:38:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dr. Michael Rich http://childrenshospitalblog.org/can-tv-now-hurt-a-babies%e2%80%99-chance-of-later-success-in-school/comment-page-1/#comment-1255 Dr. Michael Rich Mon, 17 May 2010 15:54:00 +0000 http://childrenshospitalblog.org/?p=7090#comment-1255 Dear Bronwyn,<br>Here's a little more information that might make the results more clear. In their attempt to make their findings understandable to the general public, the researchers correlated average screen use hours per day (>0) to the outcomes of interest. The reported differences in outcomes are averages over the 1,314 subjects in the study and the percentages are ratios of risk for the outcome occurring in the group, rather than a prediction for each individual child. <br><br>In other words, if you look at the whole study population grouped by hours of average daily TV viewing, those who watched 1 hour per day on average at age 2 1/2, when compared to those who watched 0 hours, consumed 9% more soft drinks and 10% more snacks, pursued 9% less physical activity and 13% less weekend sports, and had 5% higher body mass index, at age 10.They were 10% more likely to be victimized and had 6% lower math grades and 7% poorer classroom engagement. These relationships held for each additional hour. <br><br>While I and many other parents would agree with that these differences are not modest, especially when they are due to an environmental factor in a young child’s life that we can control, this research quantifies the long-term developmental risk incurred when the short-term benefit of engaging the child with the television is chosen.<br><br>Sincerely,<br>Dr. Michael Rich<br><a href="http://www.askthemediatrician.org" rel="nofollow">www.askthemediatrician.org</a> Dear Bronwyn,
Here’s a little more information that might make the results more clear. In their attempt to make their findings understandable to the general public, the researchers correlated average screen use hours per day (>0) to the outcomes of interest. The reported differences in outcomes are averages over the 1,314 subjects in the study and the percentages are ratios of risk for the outcome occurring in the group, rather than a prediction for each individual child.

In other words, if you look at the whole study population grouped by hours of average daily TV viewing, those who watched 1 hour per day on average at age 2 1/2, when compared to those who watched 0 hours, consumed 9% more soft drinks and 10% more snacks, pursued 9% less physical activity and 13% less weekend sports, and had 5% higher body mass index, at age 10.They were 10% more likely to be victimized and had 6% lower math grades and 7% poorer classroom engagement. These relationships held for each additional hour.

While I and many other parents would agree with that these differences are not modest, especially when they are due to an environmental factor in a young child’s life that we can control, this research quantifies the long-term developmental risk incurred when the short-term benefit of engaging the child with the television is chosen.

Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Rich
http://www.askthemediatrician.org

]]> By: Bronwyn Fleet http://childrenshospitalblog.org/can-tv-now-hurt-a-babies%e2%80%99-chance-of-later-success-in-school/comment-page-1/#comment-1256 Bronwyn Fleet Sun, 16 May 2010 00:04:00 +0000 http://childrenshospitalblog.org/?p=7090#comment-1256 I don't understand the key finding of this study ... "every additional hour of television exposure at 29 months corresponded to 7% and 6% unit decreases in classroom engagement (...) and math achievement (...) respectively..." Does this mean additional hours per day, per week, per month or total and above zero, above the mean or above the recommended max. of 2 hours per day? And what is a percentage unit decrease ... does this simply mean a decrease in these ratings at age 10. If so I don't understand how 6-7% per additional hour of TV watched (whatever this means) at age 2.5 can be described as modest. I don’t understand the key finding of this study … “every additional hour of television exposure at 29 months corresponded to 7% and 6% unit decreases in classroom engagement (…) and math achievement (…) respectively…”

Does this mean additional hours per day, per week, per month or total and above zero, above the mean or above the recommended max. of 2 hours per day? And what is a percentage unit decrease … does this simply mean a decrease in these ratings at age 10. If so I don’t understand how 6-7% per additional hour of TV watched (whatever this means) at age 2.5 can be described as modest.

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