Too much TV turns children into bullies, researchers say

The more television pre-school children watch, the more likely they are to become bullies later when they go to school, researchers say.

An American study of 1,266 children aged six to 11 has found that those rated as bullies by their mothers watched an average of five hours television a day as four-year-olds, compared with less than four hours a day for the non-bullies.

Previous research has linked television viewing to aggression but this is believed to be the first study to investigate its effects on pre-school children in relation to later bullying behaviour.

In all, 172 of the children were classed as bullies by their mothers, 13 per cent of the total.

Concern about bullying is growing around the world but there is little understanding of what causes it.

Poor parenting, a lack of stimulation and television watching have been suggested as factors.

More than 60 per cent of television programmes contain violence, the researchers from the University of Washington, Seattle, say.

Other programmes which are not explicitly violent contain scenes of verbal abuse or disrespectful behaviour which could serve as a model for bullying.

The findings showed that every 3.9 hours a day spent watching television by the children when they were aged four increased their chances of being rated as bullies later by their mothers by 25 per cent.

Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the authors say: "Because television viewing can be habit-forming, parents should be encouraged to limit the viewing of their young children in accord with guidelines which recommend no television for children younger than two years old and limited television thereafter."

The researchers also found that children who received more cognitive stimulation from their parents through reading, playing and being taken on outings, were less likely to become bullies.

They say this could be because it increased their intellectual confidence and made them feel more positive about school.

Those who received more emotional support from their parents, by being included at mealtimes and talked to, were also less likely to bully.

The authors say: "Our results have some important implications. We have provided some empirical support to theories that suggest bullying might arise out of cognitive deficits as well as emotional ones.

"We have added bullying to the list of potential negative consequences of excessive television viewing along with obesity, inattention and other types of aggression.

"Our findings suggest some steps can be taken with children to potentially help prevent bullying [by] maximising cognitive stimulation and limiting television viewing in the early years of development."

- INDEPENDENT