More TV for Teens Equals Poorer Relations with Parents

According to a new scientific study, it would appear that children and teens who spend a lot of time in front of the TV or computer screen tend to have difficulties in maintaining good relationships with their parents and friends. In addition, it was also found that, the more time the youngsters spent watching TV, the more likely they were to exhibit larger difficulties in handling their relationships with their parents. This type of investigations is very useful, because it could better inform parents on how to keep in touch with their children, given that today social media networks and games capture the attention of children and teens like never before, LiveScience reports.

The researchers behind the new study admit that more work is needed to confirm their findings. They explain that the new conclusions were based on a number of reports that teens themselves wrote of their own behavior. This means that the correlations may be skewed somewhat, and so a more tightly-controlled study could be just the thing scientists need to determine if these conclusions are true. The work also showed that reading more, or doing one's homework on time, were factors that promoted a better understanding between parents and children.

Oddly enough, the study did not reveal any correlation between the amount of time teens spent in front of the TV and their relationships with their peers. The ill-effects seemed only to reflect on their relationships with their parents. In this instance, the scientists say, every extra hour of TV time was associated with a 4 percent higher risk of experiencing conflicts with parents. In the case of computer screen time, every hour was equaled to a 5 percent increase in the same risk. The new data are based on investigations of New Zealand teens, which took place between 1987 and 1988, as well as in 2004.

They involved approximately 4,000 participants, of which about 3,000 were aged 14 to 15. These test subjects were asked about the amount of time they spent playing computer games, watching TV, or doing other activities online. They also received questionnaires about their relationship with their parents, which aimed at gaging the quality of these interactions. Details of the investigation appear in the March issue of the respected scientific journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The work was conducted by experts at the University of Otago and University of Auckland.