Development of Television Viewing Patterns in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Investigation

A 2-year longitudinal study of children from ages 3 to 5 and 5 to 7 investigated age changes and environmental influences on TV viewing. Viewing child-informative programs declined with age; viewing cartoons and comedies increased. No age changes occurred on other types of entertainment programs. With increasing age, children watched programs with increasing cognitive demands-less redundancy, longer temporal integration demands, and increasing complexity. Boys watched more cartoons and action-adventure programs than did girls. Cable subscription and changes in program availability over time also accounted for amount and type of viewing. Individual differences in TV viewing remained highly stable over 2 years. It was concluded that cognitive and developmental changes are less important determinants of TV use than are family patterns and external variables affecting the opportunity to view.