Study shows TV watching worse for kids than video games

A wide scale United Kingdom study of some 11,000 preschoolers has concluded that there was no relation between playing video games and later behavior problems.

Instead, the University of Glasgow study discovered that kids who watched TV for three or more hours at five years old ended up with increased conduct problems, albeit a small increase of .13 of a point, by seven years, compared with children who watched for under an hour.

Also, the study compared the data on electronic gaming habits and found that gaming was not associated with conduct problems.

Further work would be required to establish the causal mechanisms, the study added.

Meanwhile, the study also found that no association between either type of screen time and emotional symptoms, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems or prosocial behavior. Neither was there any evidence of gender differences in the effect of screen time.

The study had the mothers of the 11,014 kids surveyed report on how often their five year olds watched TV or played electronic games.

Additionally, they were asked to report on “conduct problems, emotional symptoms, peer relationship problems, hyperactivity/inattention, and prosocial behavior.” — Patricia Denise Chiu/DVM, GMA News