1. The Function of Television for Children and Adolescents.
- Author
-
Sophia Univ., Tokyo (Japan). and Furu, Takeo
- Abstract
A study was devised to investigate the function of television (TV) in children's leisure time. Subjects were 3000 school children in a suburban area of Tokyo. From the children's responses to questionnaires, they were separated into TV-type (heavy TV viewers and light print media users) and print-type (light TV viewers and heavy print media users) groups, and the data for these two groups were compared across age groups. The findings indicated that print-type children are superior in intelligence, creativity, positivity, and adaptability and are also more future-oriented. However, children who are heavy TV viewers and who are also high print media users have a wider range of interests than do low users. Results also suggest that the school achievements of TV-type children are inferior to those of print-type (although this difference was ascribed to different intelligence rather than viewing levels), that children in a high parent-child conflict group tend to view TV heavily, but that children tend to watch TV for the sake of enjoyment rather than to escape reality, and that boys watch more than girls. When heavy and light viewers were compared, clear differences in academic achievement were not found, although most children thought they should cut down their viewing of TV. It is recommended that children be trained to be selective viewers. (SH)
- Published
- 1971