Want healthier, smarter teens: Ditch the bedroom TV!

William Atkins
Thursday, 17 April 2008 19:15

Science - Health

The U.S. researchers of the study are Daheia J. Barr-Anderson, Patricia van den Berg, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, and Mary Story, all from the Division of Epidemiology and community Health (School of Public Health) at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis).

Their study “Characteristics Associated With Older Adolescents Who Have a Television in Their Bedrooms” was published online on April 1, 2008, in the journal Pediatrics, which is a publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The conclusions of the researchers were that, “Adolescents with a bedroom television reported more television viewing time, less physical activity, poorer dietary habits, fewer family meals, and poorer school performance.”

The researchers stated, “Refraining from placing a television in teenagers’ rooms may be a first step in helping to decrease screen time and subsequent poor behaviors associated with increased television watching.”

Daheia J. Barr-Anderson, one of the authors of the study, suggests that the “first step parents can take to help their teens decrease unhealthy behaviors is to keep, or remove, a TV from the bedroom of their teen.” [Physorg.com: “Teens who have TV in their bedroom are less likely to engage in healthy habits”]

Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, another author, states, "Our findings suggest the importance of not having a television in a child's bedroom. When families upgrade their living room television, they may want to resist the temptation to put the older television set in their children's bedroom.” [Physorg.com]

Author's Note: It would also be interesting to see the results of similar studies with respect to the use of Ipods, cell phones, computers (for non-educational uses) and other such devices and the activities of teenagers.

This study helps to show that extended use of TV viewing takes away from time for exercise and other valuable activities. It also shows the effect of commercials on teenagers. More viewing of commercials with respect to fast foods, sugary foods, etc. relates to more eating of such foods.

And, unfortunately, more TV viewing also relates to worse grades, which shows that teenagers, for the most part, are not watching educational TV. (Yes, there are such shows on the television!)