Teen TV Buffs Prone to Learning Problems

MONDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) -- Teens who are glued to the TV for three or more hours a day are at higher risk for developing attention and learning problems, a new study suggests.

The research, led by Jeffrey G. Johnson of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, also found that it was TV watching that contributed to learning problems -- not the other way around.

"Our findings suggest that teenagers who spent a lot of time watching TV tend to be more likely to have attention and learning problems that persist and interfere with their long-term educational achievement," said Johnson.

"Whether teens had existing attention or learning problems or whether they didn't have them, they were at greater risk for later attention and learning problems," Johnson said.

Johnson advises parents to limit the amount of time they let their children watch TV. "About one to two hours a day," he said. "And they should be watching quality programming," he added.

Video games can have the same effect as TV, Johnson said. "The problem with video games is that most of them have very little educational value. And some games may promote the development of attention problems," he said.

Johnson recommends limiting access to TV, for example not allowing a TV in the child's room. If the child has unrestricted access to TV, in the long-term they may have more difficulties reaching their potential as adults."

"Finding that increased television viewing in adolescence is associated with negative academic outcomes is not surprising," said Tara Stevens, assistant professor of educational psychology and leadership at Texas Tech University. "The interesting contribution of the study is that this relationship was still present when socio-economic status as well as prior attention and learning problems were statistically controlled," she added.

For some time, researchers have theorized that watching excessive amounts of entertainment TV might contribute to learning problems, because it takes time that might otherwise be spent reading and doing homework. TV watching also requires little intellectual effort.

In the study, Johnson and his colleagues collected data on 678 families from upstate New York. They interviewed parents and children about television habits and school problems. The interviews were conducted three times -- when the children were 14, 16 and 22 years old.

In addition, when the study participants reached age 33, they gave information about their secondary and post-secondary education, including whether they had graduated from high school or attended college.

When the children were 14 years old, 33 percent said they watched TV three or more hours a day. The researchers found that watching this much TV at 14 was associated with attention difficulties, failure to complete homework, boredom at school, failure to complete high school, poor grades, negative attitudes about school, overall academic failure in secondary school and failure to obtain post-secondary education.