The more television children watch as four-year-olds, the more likely they are to become bullies in elementary school, according to a study by researchers at the University of Washington.
The study was published in the April 2005 issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine , and it found that every hour spent daily in front of the TV increases the odds of bullying by 9 percent, regardless of how much other time parents spent with their children in "nurturing" activities including reading with them, museum visits and such.
Since about 60 percent of TV shows contain violence, researchers suggested a possible link there. The American Academy of Pediatrics has found that watching television is also linked to attention deficit disorder (ADD) and obesity, and suggests limiting television to one to two hours a day for young children, and no TV at all for children under two ( Arizona Daily Star , April 10, 2005).
