Too Much Tube Time Can Turn Kids Into Bullies

Study finds a connection in children as young as 4

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, April 4 (HealthDay News) -- Four-year-olds who spend a lot of time watching TV are more likely to become bullies in grade school, new research contends.

"This has been shown for older children but never for children this young," said Frederick J. Zimmerman, assistant professor of health services at the University of Washington and lead author of a study appearing in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

"Four-year-old kids in general are not watching The Sopranos. They're watching cartoons, but they're very violent. This is a major message that parents need to be aware of," he added.

The study also found that children who receive emotional support and cognitive stimulation -- reading or play time with parents, for example -- are less likely to become bullies in grade school.

However, some experts believe there were flaws with the study.

"They [the researchers] don't really address the issue that things they didn't measure could be causing both television-watching and bullying," said Dr. Christopher Lucas, director of New York University's Early Childhood Service.

For example, he said, parents who don't set and enforce rules -- such as limits on TV time -- are more likely to end up with children who have conduct and aggression problems.

As recent tragic events have shown, bullying is a major problem in schools and affects an estimated 30 percent of school-age children in the United States, the researchers said.

"Bullying is such a problem because it does lead to other things, both with victims and perpetrators," said Zimmerman, co-director of the University of Washington's Child Health Institute. "It's a pretty major issue for schools now."

Still, according to Zimmerman and his colleagues, experts don't know much about environmental factors, particularly in the home environment, that might propel children to bullying.

For the study, the researchers looked at data on 1,266 4-year-olds who were enrolled in a national study. They focused specifically on emotional support from parents, cognitive stimulation and the amount of television watched, and then compared that with bullying at ages 6 through 11.

Each of the three factors contributed separately to a child's chances of becoming a bully, Zimmerman said.

The study found that children who watched 5 hours of TV a day were 25 percent more likely to become bullies than children who watched no television or those who watched 3.2 hours a day. And children who watched very high levels of TV had double the risk of becoming bullies.

Mothers determined whether their children were labeled as bullies. Children who received early emotional support were 33 percent less likely to become bullies than children receiving below-average support.

Similarly, children receiving good cognitive stimulation were about 33 percent less likely to end up in the bully category, the researchers found.

"If you expose kids to reading and stories and museums, that helps them to control their emotions better and makes it less likely that they're going to be bullies," Zimmerman said.

The fact that the study results were based on mothers' descriptions of their children was not a problem, Zimmerman said.

Others, however, felt that was a limitation of the study.

"The first basic step of any psychiatric survey is to make sure people are asking and responding to the same thing," Lucas said. "Bullying behaviors ... might actually be a very difficult thing for parents to talk about."

More information

The Nemours Foundation has more on bullying.

SOURCES: Frederick J. Zimmerman, Ph.D., assistant professor of health services, and co-director, Child Health Institute, University of Washington, Seattle; Christopher Lucas, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, New York University Child Study Center, and director, Early Childhood Service, New York University, New York City; April 2005 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine

Early home environment and television watching influence bullying behavior

April 4, 2005

CHICAGO—Four-year-old children who receive emotional support and cognitive stimulation from their parents are significantly less likely to become bullies in grade school, but the more television four-year-olds watch the more likely they are to bully later, according to an article in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Bullying among school children is considered a serious public health problem, affecting an estimated 30 percent of school-age children in the U.S., according to background information in the article. Previous research has suggested three possible predictors of future bullying behavior: that parental emotional support helps young children develop empathy, self-regulation and prosocial skills and might be protective; that bullying might arise out of early cognitive deficits that lead to decreased competence with peers; and that television violence may produce aggressive behavior.

Frederick J. Zimmerman, Ph.D., of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues compared assessments of 1,266 four-year-olds enrolled in a national longitudinal study for the three potential predictors, parental emotional support, cognitive stimulation and amount of television watching at four years of age, with later bullying, reported at ages six through 11. Statistical methods were used to determine whether each predictor constituted an independent risk factor for subsequent bullying.

Cognitive stimulation assessment was based on information on outings, reading, playing and parental role in teaching a child. Emotional support assessment included questions on whether the child ate meals with both parents, parents talked to the child while working and spanking. The average number of hours of television watching was based on parent reports. Bullying was determined by the characterization of the child as a bully by his mother.

Approximately thirteen percent of children were reported as bullies by their mothers, the researchers report. Both early emotional support and cognitive stimulation had substantial protective effects. "The magnitude of the risk associated with television...is clinically significant," the authors write. "... a one-standard deviation increase [3.9 hours] in the number hours of television watched at age four years is associated with an approximate 25 percent increase in the probability of being described as a bully by the child's mother at ages six through 11 years."

"Our results have some important implications," the authors conclude. "First, we have provided some empirical support to theories that suggest that bullying might arise out of cognitive deficits as well as emotional ones. Second, we have added bullying to the list of potential negative consequences of excessive television viewing along with obesity, inattention, and other types of aggression. Third, our findings suggest some steps that can be taken with children to potentially help prevent bullying. Maximizing cognitive stimulation and limiting television watching in the early years of development might reduce children's subsequent risk of becoming bullies."
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159:384-388.

For more information, contact JAMA/Archives media relations at 312/464-JAMA (5262) or e-mail mediarelations@jama-archives.org .

Media Advisory: To contact Frederick J. Zimmerman, Ph.D., call Pam Sowers at 206-543-3620.

Back to News