According to this report published in the March 25, 2013 edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood, Five-year-olds can develop poorer social skills and are more predisposed to fight, steal and other anti-social tendencies by age 7.
Surprisingly, researchers found that children’s time on video games or the computer did not effect behavior compared to the more passive activity of watching TV.
Analyzing data gathered from about 11,000 children in the United Kingdom who were born between 2000 and 2002, the researchers had the mothers of the children fill out a survey when the kids were aged 5 and then again at age 7 to shed light on how well adapted their kids are. This also provided information about the amount of time their children spent at age 5 watching TV and playing computer or electronic games.
At age 5, nearly two-thirds of the children watched TV for between one and three hours a day, 15 percent watched TV for more than three hours a day, and less than 2 percent watched no TV. Only 3 percent of the kids spent three or more hours a day playing computer or electronic games when they were 5 years old, the study authors reported.
After taking into account other factors, such as parenting and family dynamics, the researchers concluded that there was a significant association between watching TV for three or more hours a day at age 5 and a “very small” increased risk of antisocial behavior by age 7.
But watching a lot of TV was not associated with emotional or attention problems, the authors noted in a journal news release.
These findings — and previous studies showing that too much screen time can have a harmful effect on youngsters’ physical health and schooling — suggest that parents are right in limiting TV time for their children, concluded study author Alison Parkes, of the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and colleagues.
The study found an association between increased TV watching at age 5 and a small increased risk of antisocial behavior at age 7, but it didn’t find a cause-and-effect relationship.
Get more information from another published article that references the study.
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