The effects of background television on very young children's play with toys

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Author:

Evans, Marie K.

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Year:

2003

Article Title:

The effects of background television on very young children's play with toys

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Volume:

Edition:

Issue:

Pages:

109

ISBN/ISSN:

Source of Funding:

Funding Source Not Stated in Paper

Study Design:

Experimental Study

Publication Type:

Thesis/Dissertation

Age Group:

Childhood (birth-12 yrs), Infancy (2-23 Months), Preschool Age (2-5 yrs)

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Abstract:

Objective: To determine the effects of background television on very young children�s play with toys

Design: Children were invited to play with a variety of toys in the lab for one hour. For half of the children, the TV played an episode of Jeopardy! for 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of no-TV. For the other half of the children, the TV was off for 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of Jeopardy! Play and focused attention were compared across 2 conditions (TV in the background, no TV in the background).

Subjects and Setting:1-, 2-, and 3-year-old children (all within 1 month of their birthdays) from a small city and surrounding suburbs in Western Massachusetts. Fifty children total (N = 50).

Intervention: N/A

Outcome Measures: Number of play episodes, mean play episode duration, percentage of the session in play, number of focused play episodes, mean duration of focused play episodes, percentage of the session spent in focused play, and the percentage of all play that was focused.

Results: During the first half hour, mean play episode duration was reduced at all ages when the TV was on in the background (p < .01). During the second half hour, mean play episode duration was not reduced in the presence of background television, except for 3-year-old boys (p < .05). During the first half hour, 1-year-old children only had significantly shorter episodes of focused play when the TV was on in the background (p=.01). When the TV was on, children did not look much at it (6 % for children with TV on during the first half hour, 3 % for children with TV on during the second half hour).

Conclusions: Background television shortened children�s play at all ages (during the first half hour). Since they only looked at the TV for 6 % of the time, this effect cannot be attributed solely to children�s visual attention being diverted to the screen. TV may serve as a source of general interference for play behaviors, perhaps due to its auditory features. Since 1-year-olds in the first half hour were the only group whose play was less focused when TV was on in the background, 1-year-olds may be affected differently by background television than older children. � Center on Media and Child Health

Keywords:

Age Differences
Children
Divided Attention
Education
Infants and Toddlers
Play Behavior
Television
Toys