FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 23, 2006
Contact: Tom Salyers or Lynette Ciervo
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What the Research Tells Us About the Impact of Media on Young Children
ZERO TO THREE Releases Research Summary

Washington, D.C.—Does TV watching by young children harm their development? This question has been asked and answered in different ways by experts quoted in media reports about the emergence of new television and video products for younger audiences. Many, especially parents, are confused.

ZERO TO THREE consulted with scientists who study the media and young children as well as child development researchers to learn more about what the research does and does not tell us about the impact of TV on young children. The summary of those findings are attached and summarized below.

ZERO TO THREE’s review found that there is not a robust body of research which conclusively answers this question. The vast majority of published studies are correlational and do not make any causal link between viewing and child development outcomes.

What the research strongly suggests is that content and the amount of viewing time matters. The research tells us nothing about the influence of screen media on early brain development. Further research needs to be conducted before definitive conclusions are drawn about the developmental outcomes of television or video watching for young children.

Highlights of what the current research tells us:

There is currently no research on the impact of TV viewing on early brain development.

Program content matters.
A growing body of research shows that what children are watching makes a difference. For example, one recent study found that specific television programs can have a positive effect on children’s language development, while other programs are associated with a negative impact on language development. This suggests that program content can influence children’s developmental outcomes
in different ways and perhaps at different times during their early development.

Co-viewing may enrich children’s viewing experience.
Very young children learn best through fun and loving interactions with parents
and caregivers. This extends to television viewing as well. Research has found
that when the adults in children’s lives make the viewing experience interactive—
by answering children’s questions, talking about the program, pointing out and
naming things they see on the screen, and “extending” the learning from TV into
children’s everyday lives (“Look, here is a dog walking down our street.
Remember we saw a dog on television today?”)—children may benefit more from
viewing.

Children under 2 can learn from TV, but not as effectively as from real life.
Several research studies reveal a “video-deficit.” The video deficit is the
phenomenon that children younger than age three have difficulty transferring
what they view on screen to real life and consistently learn less from television
than from a live demonstration. However, recent studies have found that this
video deficit can be reduced when a learning task is repeated and when children
are within a familiar context (home). For example, when babies watched a video
demonstration of someone shaking a rattle on a frequent basis, even infants as
young as 6 months old were able to copy these actions. This suggests that
learning from television is a complex process that may require more time (i.e.,
repetition) for the information to be processed.

Amount of TV exposure matters.
Some studies found that as viewing time increased, so did the potential for
negative effects. One recent study focusing on very young children found that the
likelihood of obesity among low-income multi-ethnic preschoolers (aged one to
five years) was higher for each hour per day of TV or video viewed. Another
study showed a correlation between amount of television viewing at 1 and 3 years
of age and subsequent parental reports of attentional problems at age 7. Of note,
however, is that a more recent study found that children’s attentional processes
were not impacted by early television exposure.

There is an association between the amount of TV viewing and obesity.
Studies focusing on babies and toddlers aged birth to three have found an
association between the number of hours of television watched and the likelihood
of children in the household being overweight. Another recent research study of 6
to 19-year olds, however, found that when parental obesity is taken into account,
television viewing hours do not significantly relate to increased odds of children
being overweight. It may be that television viewing does not cause, but is a
complex correlate of family weight problems.

Background television matters.
Background television is programming that is on “in the background” and is not the main focus of a child’s attention. The issue of background television is important since it is frequently programming that is not created for children and often incomprehensible and potentially distressing to very young children. It is also extremely prevalent. One recent study found that 39 percent of children between the ages of 0 and 4 live in households where the television is always on or is on most of the time, even if no on is watching. Another study showed that background television interrupts children’s play. An additional concern is that background television may reduce interactions between parent and child. This raises the concern that background television may interfere with children’s learning on two fronts.

This research summary is the result of a collaboration between ZERO TO THREE and several researchers who have done considerable work exploring the impact of the media on very young children—Rachel Barr, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, Dan Anderson, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Deborah L. Linebarger, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. This document has also been reviewed by several researchers in the field of early childhood development, including ZERO TO THREE Board members Ross Thompson, Ph.D., Professor of child Psychology at the University of California and Hiro Yoshikawa, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Applied Psychology and Public Policy at New York University.

ZERO TO THREE has collaborated with Sesame Workshop on the Sesame Beginnings DVD series to provide parents with young children with a tool to encourage parent-child interaction. In addition, both Drs. Barr and Anderson are paid consultants to Sesame Workshop.

ZERO TO THREE's mission is to support the healthy development and well-being of infants, toddlers and their families. It is a national nonprofit multidisciplinary organization that advances its mission by informing, educating and supporting adults who influence the lives of infants and toddlers.

ZERO TO THREE website: http://www.zerotothree.org/