Studies lay out violent TV’s risk to tots

I previously posed the question if parents had to choose one,  would they prefer their children to see nudity or violence in television and movies. The results were rather one sided, with 90% of respondents indicating that they would prefer nudity to violence. (Please feel free to weigh in if you have not already.)

A recent article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer indicates just how much of an impact violent portrayal on TV have on children. And it’s not simply truly violent movies, but cartoons which casts physical injury in a humorous light which influences children as well.

For example, toddlers and babies who watched an hour a day of violent TV, on average, would double their risk of developing attention problems five years later, a report from Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute said.

A separate study by the institute linked watching violent programming in preschool years to bullying, cheating, fighting and other aggressive behavior among boys in early grade-school years.Together, the research is a warning about the importance of selecting what young children watch on television, even cartoons.

“You are actually teaching them that violence is funny,” said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a co-author of both reports, which were released by Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center and the University of Washington.

It is definitely worth the reading time and may shed some light on the content that your kids are readily absorbing.