An abstract of the study, “Early Cognitive Stimulation, Emotional Support, and Television Watching as Predictors of Subsequent Bullying Among Grade-School Children,” is available from the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Children’s early exposure to television can make them more likely to become bullies in grade school, a study in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine suggests.
Researchers at the University of Washington, in Seattle, analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to determine how several factors among 4-year-olds—including cognitive activities and emotional support from parents, as well as TV viewing—are independently associated with bullying when those children attend school. Each hour of TV a child watched at age 4, the researchers found, increased the child’s propensity for bullying later on.
