The Relation Between Television Viewing Time and 4–7-Year-Old Children’s Learning and Behavioral Habits

Abstract

With the spread of mass media such as televisions (TV) around the world, more young audiences watch television on various devices at an early age. Subsequently, researchers noticed that children in many countries watch television too much, which is unhealthy. It was indicated that television viewing is significantly associated with subsequent attention problems and poor academic performance. The current study focused on the relation between television viewing time and 4–7-year-old children’s learning and behavioral habits. We used the data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2018, which is a national, large-scale, multidisciplinary social follow-up survey project. The result showed that children’s television viewing time was significantly associated with their learning and behavioral habits. Thus, parents should realize the harm of excessive TV viewing and emphasis the limitation of children’s TV viewing. The study seeks to remind parents that excessive TV viewing may be adverse to children’s good learning and behavioral habits.