PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The World Health Organization recommends that screen time, be it television or any electronic device, be limited for children during their preschool years. A new study published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics supports additional advice, which has been given for decades — that exposing preschoolers to violent content can have a long-term emotional impact on them.
According to the authors of the study, to preschool children, who do not have the capacity for abstract thinking, violent content is seen as real. Whereas most prior research examined the immediate effects of exposure to such content, a study from Université de Montréal measured the potential impact almost a decade later.
Working with children from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, which has followed a random representative sample of boys and girls since birth (1997/1998), researchers determined that preschoolers who watch violent television are more likely than those who don't to have emotional and behavioral issues by age 12.
The research suggests these children have greater emotional distress, lower academic achievement and less motivation.
KYW Newsradio's Medical Reports are sponsored by Independence Blue Cross.
