Watching a Lot of TV Good for Some Kids, Study Finds
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Could watching three hours of TV or more each day actually improve a child’s academic abilities? Yes, according to a new study published in the journal Sociology.
“Watching quite a large amount of television at a young age was actually linked to positive scores in cognition at age 7,” says Dr. Alice Sullivan, a lead researcher in the study at the University of London.
While surprised about the positive impact, Sullivan says it does seem logical.
“In a way I think it does make sense because children who are watching TV are exposed to a lot of vocabulary and a lot of educational content — of course depending on what they’re watching,” she says.
However, there is one caveat, Sullivan points out.
“This only emerges once you control for the parents social class and educational levels,” she says. “If you control for those social background factors that’s when you find the positive link between television and cognitive scores.”
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