A child’s home media environment may affect his or her performance on achievement tests, a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University’s school of public health and Stanford University has found.
The abstract of the report “The Remote, the Mouse, and the No. 2 Pencil” is posted by the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Students with television sets in their bedrooms scored 8 points lower on math and language arts achievements tests and 7 points lower on reading tests than their peers without bedroom TVs. Children with access to a home computer, by contrast, scored 6 points higher on math and language arts tests and 4 points higher on reading tests than children without home computers.
The study accounted for differences in family income as well as the educational backgrounds of parents.
