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TV May Increase Aggression in Toddlers

MONDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Yet another study has found that television viewing is linked to aggression in young children.

This research, published in the November issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found that direct TV watching by young children or exposure to indirect viewing in the household were both associated with increased aggression in small children.

After controlling the data for other factors, such as maternal depression, living in an unsafe neighborhood and being spanked, "for every hour that a child watched TV directly, aggression went up 0.16 on a scale of zero to 30. For a TV being on in the house, it was 0.09," said study author Jennifer A. Manganello, an assistant professor of health communication at the University of Albany School of Public Health, State University of New York.

And, she said, while the increase may not seem like a lot, when the researchers looked at all of the other factors, "TV was more likely than other factors to increase aggressive behaviors."

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is concerned enough about the media's effect on children's behavior that they recently updated their policy on media violence.

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