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Young Children and the Media
A Discussion Paper
a
Young Children and the Media
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ISBN: 978-1-921352-54-6
i
Young Children and the Media
A Discussion Paper
Prepared by:
Dr Leonie Rutherford
Deakin University
Professor Michael Bittman
University of New England
Dr Dean Biron
University of New England
for the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth May 2010
ii
The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY)
The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) is a national
non-profit organisation working to create better futures for all Australia’s
children and young people. Despite Australia being a wealthy, developed
country, many aspects of health and wellbeing of our young people have been
declining. ARACY was formed to reverse these trends by preventing and
addressing major problems affecting our children and young people.
ARACY tackles these complex problems through building collaborations with
policy makers, practitioners working in the field and researchers from a broad
range of disciplines. We share knowledge and foster evidence-based solutions.
About the authors
Dr Leonie Rutherford (PhD, ANU) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of
Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University. She is the author
of a number of national and international book chapters and peer reviewed
journal articles on Australian children’s television drama and international
co-production, particularly the work of the Australian Children’s Television
Foundation, and the institutional and socio-legal contexts of children’s culture
genres. In 2007, she was principal author of a major review of influences of
media on children and families for the Australian Communications and Media
Authority. Her current projects include an Australian Research Council Linkage
Projects Grant entitled ‘Digital Natives: Growing up with Old and New Media
in Australia’ (with Professor Michael Bittman), and a Deakin Central Research
Grant funded study of the new ABC digital children’s channel.
Professor Michael Bittman (PhD, RMIT) is recognised as a world authority
on the collection and analysis of time-use data. He is President of the
International Association of Time Use Researchers, was chair of the United
Nations Statistical Division Expert Group on Time-Use Surveys and has
addressed the United States’ National Academy of Sciences on international
best practice in this research. He is a key member of the expert Consortium
Advisory Group responsible for the design and quality control of the $30 million
Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). He developed the diary
instrument used in that study and has an insider’s knowledge of the LSAC
findings, which specifically yield data on children 0 to 8 years old. He has
worked extensively with children’s time diaries, and advised Professor Melissa
Wake on the design of the longitudinal Parents Education and Support (PEAS)
study, which comprehensively explored the issues surrounding children’s health.
More recently he has developed an interest in new technologies, particularly
the mobile technologies, and has co-authored a major report for the Australian
Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) and a number of scholarly
articles on topics arising from this project.
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Dr Dean Biron (PhD, UNE) has a doctorate in Communication Studies from
the University of New England. He has worked as a research assistant on
several projects for UNE’s Centre for Applied Research in Social Science
(CARSS), and has published a number of research papers in the fields of media
studies, sociology and criminology.
Acknowledgement
Roy Morgan Research has provided access to data from its Young Australians
Survey (YAS) in support of ARACY’s Young Children and the Media project.
ARACY gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Roy Morgan Research in
providing this data.
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The ‘Young Children and the Media’ project
ARACY’s Young Children and the Media project is one of a number of
collaborative projects aimed at responding more effectively to complex
problems affecting the wellbeing of young Australians.
The focus of this project is to identify and act on media strategies to enhance
the wellbeing of children in their early years (2–8), including how media are
used, media and digital literacy, and how to facilitate the creation of content
suitable for children.
This project examines the positive and negative impact of media use on the
wellbeingof children in this age range.
Through this project ARACY will identify: • what the evidence tells us about the impact of media on the wellbeing of
children
• the gap between evidence and practice, and
• strategies that can be successfully implemented to bridge these gaps.
Further information on the Young Children and the Media Project is available on
the ARACY website
or contact ARACY:
PO Box 1360, West Perth, WA 6872
Telephone: 08 9476 7800
Email: [email protected]
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Summary
• This discussion paper provides a brief summary of the available Australian
and international research literature concerning media use and the
wellbeing of young children aged between 0 and 8 years.
• The influence of media is likely to be greatest and most enduring on
children aged 0 to 8 years yet it has been less studied in this age group,
especially in Australia, than in children of older age groups.
• Despite the development and uptake of new media, the dominant media
viewed by children are free to air television and DVDs.
• Watching television appears to have no clear educational advantage for
children under 2 years old and is inferior to face-to-face interaction for
language acquisition.
• Children’s time spent with new, digital media does not replace time spent
reading.
• Children of highly educated parents watch less television, devote more time
to print media and do better at school.
• It seems likely, especially for children over 2 years of age, that the content
of the media programs being watched is more critical than the act of
watching itself.
• Age-appropriate television programs of educational value are widely
considered beneficial to the development and wellbeing of children from the
age of three.
• Repetition of preschooler programs in a broadcaster’s schedule may aid
comprehension of educational content by the target audience.
• Young children are able to interact with what they see on the screen
(applaud, imitate behaviours, etc) and alternate attention between the
screen and the surrounding environment. Screen media viewing can be
associated with pretend and outdoor play.
• Research suggests that television can frighten some young children and
disturb their sleeping patterns and that exposure to violent content can lead
to inappropriate thoughts and behaviour.
• Parental monitoring has an influence on children’s media use and its
outcomes.
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• Research suggests that the most effective parental practices are
co-viewing programs with children and active mediation (engaging the
child in communication about what is being viewed), while the popular
practice of restrictive mediation (setting rules or regulations about TV
viewing) is less effective.
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Contents
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Types of media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Time spent watching television versus reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Equity variables, family characteristics and children’s outcomes. . . . . . 4
Television versus other screen media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The impact of television. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Television: entertainment or education?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Content issues: Program design and children’s comprehension. . . . . 11
Screen media, health and obesity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Young children as consumers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Media content and decision making by young children. . . . . . . . . . 18
Mediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
viii
Introduction
In the 21st century, electronic media are universally present in the lives of even
very young children, and children are regular and often active users of that
media (Thorn 2008; Addlington 2010). We know that media use in the early
years of a child’s development is critical, in that media patterns established
in this period have long-term implications for cognitive development and
future media use (Huston et al. 1990; Lemish 2008; Anderson et al. 2001).
This makes the focus on the patterns of media use and the content of media
consumed in the early years of childhood all the more important.
…media patterns established
in this period have long-term
implications for cognitive
development and future
media use…
This discussion paper provides a brief summary of the
available Australian and international research literature
concerning media use and the wellbeing of young children
aged between 0 and 8 years. The paper aims to investigate
this literature in terms of both positive and negative impacts
associated with media use by children in this age range. Our
review emphasises the findings of nationally representative
studies.
While we cite Australian research where available, many of the findings
come from US research because more nationally representative studies have
been funded there, and there has been a special interest in minority groups.
Australian and European research has often been restricted to smaller samples,
and has often privileged qualitative research over large scale quantitative
surveys. While qualitative studies often describe and explain conditions of media
use much better than surveys, they are not representative, and therefore are
of less use in generalising about what type of interventions might positively
influence outcomes for children in such areas as education, health, social
adjustment, etc.
This paper concentrates on children who are at the first two levels of cognitive
development as defined by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1969).
According to Piaget, from birth to 2 years of age (the sensory–motor level) an
infant child experiences the world through senses and actions and perceives
events exclusively from his or her own point of view. Between approximately 2
and 7 years of age (the pre-operatory level) children develop the language skills
that allow them to engage in more complex thought processes, although still
limited to relatively basic thought patterns and connections.
1
Lemish (2008) notes that the vulnerability of very young children in this vital
period of physical and social development contributes to a heightened sense of
‘moral panic’ about the intrusion of new and complex forms of electronic media.
Anxieties about social change have always accompanied the introduction of
new media into society, making it especially necessary for investigators to use
the best available evidence.
2
Types of media
Two successive Kaiser Foundation reports on American children aged 0 to 6
years established that more than 80% use some form of screen media in any
given day, while similar numbers are involved in reading and listening to music
(Rideout, Vandewater and Wartella 2003; Rideout and Hamel 2006). Some
43% of US children aged 4 to 6 years are regular computer users (Rideout
and Hamel 2006). The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), a
nationally representative survey, reports that 40% of 3 to 4-year-old children
participate in computer or Internet activity daily, rising to more than 80% for
7 to 8 year olds (ACMA 2009).
Of all media forms, television remains the most influential in the lives of both
children and adults. The Australian Communications and Media Authority
(ACMA) 2009 report Use of Electronic Media and Communications: Early
Childhood to Teenage Years found that television (94%) and DVD/video
(91%) are the most commonly used media among 3 and 4-year-old Australian
children, with computer and Internet usage less common (40%) and electronic
games the least used (16%). Our own analysis of data from Wave 2.5 of LSAC,
conducted in 2007, shows that roughly 1 in 8 children aged 3 to 4 years and
1 in 6 children aged 6 to 7 years have a television set in their own bedroom.
In contrast, recent US research finds that 1 in 3 children under 6 years of age
have a television set in their own bedroom, with electronic media consumption
actually peaking in this preschool period, before dropping off in the first years of
school and rising again at around 8 years (Roberts and Foehr 2008). Australian
research sourced from the LSAC found that 4-year-old children watched
an average of 2.3 hours television on weekdays and 2.2 hours on weekend
days. The study children spent most of their playtime watching television/
videos/DVDs, but the amount was influenced by socio-demographic variables.
Higher maternal education was associated with less television viewing (ACMA
2009; Baxter and Hayes 2007). A recent Australian study
surveyed mothers of 92 children aged from 3 to 5 years
Of all media forms, television
(mostly from middle socioeconomic backgrounds). It found
remains the most influential in
that the study children on average watched around 1 hour
of television and 30 minutes of videos/DVDs on weekdays,
the lives of both children and
and spent an additional 30 minutes watching videos/DVDs
adults.
on weekends (Skouteris and McHardy 2009).
3
Time spent watching television versus reading
A significant amount of research has suggested a link between the way
children spend their time in early childhood and developmental outcomes
(Crouter and McHale 2005; Huston and Wright 1999). This period, it is
suggested, is particularly crucial because social and intellectual development
is more malleable than in later years, as younger children have less control
over their time use than do older children, and there may be more family and
individual variability in how children spend their time in their preschool years
than once they begin to attend school (Huston and Wright 1999).
Clear links have been found between the amount of time children spend
reading and academic achievement (Hofferth and Sandberg 2001; Timmer
et al. 1985). Some studies (discussed further below) find that more television
viewing is associated with lower academic achievement scores, although there
are age and gender variables that affect outcomes. The most consistent finding
in the literature is the impact of parents’ educational level. Children of parents
with higher levels of education spend less time watching television and more
time reading (Brown et al., 2008; Bianchi and Robinson 1997; Huston and
Wright 1999; Hofferth and Sandberg 2001; Timmer et al. 1985).
Equity variables, family characteristics and
children’s outcomes
Equity variables, such as level of parental education, maternal employment,
number of siblings in the home, and mother’s participation in sport have been
shown to influence children’s activities that may impact on later outcomes.
Confirming previous Australian and US findings (Brown et al. 2008; Bianchi
and Robinson 1997; Hofferth and Sandberg 2001; Baxter and Hayes 2007),
Skouteris and McHardy’s study (2009) indicates that mothers’ level of
education, participation in sport, and time spent watching television and reading
are significant factors in their children’s level and type of media use. Children of
more highly-educated mothers watched less television and read more.
4
US research has targeted disadvantaged groups more frequently than
Australian studies. While much of this has discussed children’s use of time as
it relates to the acquisition of ‘social capital’ (Bianchi and Robinson 1997),1
media use and parental mediation of media use is not always central to the
study. Poorer economic circumstances and parents’ employment status can
affect the time that parents have to interact with, listen to, read to, teach and
comment on media content that children access. College-educated mothers
of preschool children have been found to devote more time to childcare and
interaction with children (teaching, taking on educational outings, playing) than
less-educated mothers. In contrast to popular fears about working mothers and
‘latchkey children’, maternal employment did not seem to predict more television
watching for young children, or less time spent directly interacting with children.
However, single-parent families are associated with less favourable outcomes
for children, even when controlling for socioeconomic differences. Maintaining a
single-parent family reduces the time that parents are able to spend monitoring
children’s activities including media-related activities (cited in Bianchi and
Robinson 1997).
Television versus other screen media
Recent reports on the use of electronic media and communications by
Australian children and teenagers (ACMA 2009; ACMA 2007) found television
to be unique among the various media types, as use levels remain constant
from early childhood right through to later teenage years. In light of such
findings, it is not surprising that television has been by far the most discussed
media form in the wider research literature. Research into more recent
developments in electronic media content and usage is still in the rudimentary
stage (Brooks-Gunn and Donahue 2008), particularly for children under 8 years
of age. For all of these reasons, this review concentrates mostly on television,
and only briefly on print and the other less-used media.
1
‘Social capital’ is a concept used in various health, economic and social sciences to refer
to connections within social networks that affect the value that individuals are perceived to
have. It assumes that social networks provide resources and support to aid the productivity
and wellbeing of individuals, and affects how individuals are esteemed within groups, such
as peer groups of children. Social capital has been the focus of research by the ABS in
Australia, on the assumption that there are links between the ‘social, economic and
health-related outcomes for individuals and to the strength and sustainability of communities’
(ABS 2006, reissue).
5
One of the few in-depth investigations of computer use by toddlers and
preschool children suggests that use increases proportionately with age, with
parentally-mediated usage waning and autonomous usage commencing at
around 3-and-a-half years (Calvert et al. 2005). This US-based study found
that most computer usage in this age bracket is associated with game play. A
correlation between non-game computer usage and enhanced reading skills
was suggested, however the authors point out that further research is required
in this area.
Using traditional media such as books also remains
prevalent (Rideout, Vandewater and Wartella 2003; Rideout
and Hamel 2006). There is evidence to suggest that newer
forms of digital media are not replacing older forms, but
rather are being used in tandem with them (Roberts and
Foehr 2008). In some instances, electronic media use is
actually shown to encourage book reading (Kirkorian et al.
2008). However, a comprehensive survey by the National Literacy Trust in the
UK showed that primary school children are more likely to read books than
secondary school children and suggested that the attraction of digital media
may be one reason for the decline in reading among older children (Clark and
Foster 2005).
…newer forms of digital
media are not replacing older
forms, but rather are being
used in tandem with them.
6
The impact of television
A number of studies have found that watching television has no benefit for
children under 2 years of age.
Anderson and Pempek (2005) summarised the few studies on the ability
of infants under 2 years of age to cognitively process television programs
developed specifically for infant viewers and found that there is likely no
positive value in viewing television for children under two years of age. Kirkorian
et al. (2008) further point out that the available evidence
suggests children under the age of 2 years are not self…no positive value in viewing
directed users of the media; however, the authors also note
the paucity of research with respect to very young children
television for children under
and their comprehension of screen media, arguing that
two years of age.
more studies are required. A study by Krcmar and others
(2007) also supports the belief that children under 2 years
of age do not benefit from watching television, as prelinguistic or newly verbal
infants are more likely to learn new words from their adult caregivers than from
television. Similar results were obtained in a British study involving 15-monthold infants, who demonstrated a higher ability to repeat learned tasks after a
live demonstration rather than a televised one (Zack et al. 2009).
Most research with preschool-aged children has focused on the perceived
negative impact of television viewing. There is, for example, evidence that
watching violent television programs by very young children (particularly
males) is correlated with subsequent aggressive behaviour (Bandura et al.
1963; Bjorkqvist 1985; Christakis and Zimmerman 2007). Most behavioural
psychological researchers agree that viewing violence on television has the
potential to affect an individual child’s behaviour, psychological wellbeing
and beliefs about the world. Nonetheless, others have argued that mediating
factors—which may include the context in which the violence is portrayed,
the predisposition to aggression in the individual child, and gender and
socioeconomic status—must be taken into consideration (Buckingham 1996).
Preschool-aged children may also be frightened by screen images with fantasy
or supernatural elements, as well as by animals or characters depicted as
dangerous or monstrous. Only when they have reached Piaget’s concrete
operational stage (aged 7 to 11 years) are children able to make ‘modality
judgements’ and distinguish between fantasy and reality (Cantor 2001).
Paavonen et al. (2006) claim that younger children especially are not always
able to control the stimuli they receive from television; thus, they may have
difficulty discriminating between fantasy and reality in program content, and
7
be frightened or disturbed by it in ways that their parents might not predict.
Nonetheless, research has found that extreme cases of intense fear from media
images are not the norm. Most fright responses are of a milder kind and can
be safely dealt with by parental strategies such as offering a warm drink or a
blanket for preschool children, or discussing the fictional/unreal aspects of
programs (cognitive strategies) with school age children (Cantor 2001).
Owens et al. (1999) found that television viewing was associated with sleeping
difficulties, bedtime resistance, sleep-onset delay, sleep anxiety, night waking
and shortened sleep duration in children aged 4 to 10 years. In a study specific
to television viewing and sleep patterns in children aged 5 to 6 years, Paavonen
et al. (2006) showed that active television viewing and passive television
exposure were related to sleep difficulties, especially sleep–wake transition
disorders and overall sleep disturbances. Watching television alone, watching
television at bedtime and active viewing of adult television programs were
related to sleeping difficulties.
In 2001, the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Public Education
recommended a number of parental guidelines for television usage, including
the removal of television sets from all children’s bedrooms and discouraging
all viewing for children less than 2 years of age. As noted previously, a
comprehensive follow-up study of more than 1000 US children aged 0 to 6 years
found that those guidelines were not being followed: 1 in 5 children aged 0 to 2
years, and more than one-third of children aged 3 to 6 years, were found to have
television sets in their bedrooms, while more than 60% of 0 to 2-year-olds watch
television on a ‘typical day’ (Vandewater et al. 2007). Australian research shows
lower levels of media equipment in Australian children’s bedrooms, though the
percentages are not negligible. Wave 2.5 of LSAC found that 13% of children
aged 3 to 4 years had a television in their bedroom (n=3062), rising to 20% for
7 to 8 year olds (n=3123) (ACMA 2009). The LSAC shows that most Australian
children below the age of 2 years watch television for an average of 36 minutes
per day (Australian Institute of Family Studies 2005). Conversely, the findings
of a smaller study conducted in Australia revealed that a high percentage of
preschool-aged children (about 70%) were following the American Academy of
Pediatrics guideline recommending less than 2 hours of electronic media use
each day (Okely et al. 2009).
It is also necessary to consider the impact of background television on very
young children. As Rideout and Hamel (2006) point out, having a television
playing in the background may indirectly cause problems such as interrupting
the concentration of a child trying to focus on other tasks or stimuli, or
inadvertently exposing the child to age-inappropriate material. Finally, Guernsey
(2007) makes the important point that the American Academy of Pediatrics, in
its recommendation of zero screen time for children under two years of age, is
8
concerned not only with the possible effect of television on infants but also with
the possibility that television viewing displaces time that infants ought to spend
interacting with the people and environment around them.
Research critical of the negative effects television has on
preschool-aged viewers can be balanced by studies that
It seems likely, especially
suggest that young children are able to interact with what
for children over 2 years of
they see on the screen (applaud, imitate behaviours, etc),
age, that the content of the
and to actively alternate attention between the screen
program being watched is
and the surrounding environment (Huston et al. 2007;
more critical than the act of
Lemish 2008; Valkenburg and Vroone 2004). It seems
likely, especially for children over 2 years of age, that the
watching itself.
content of the program being watched is more critical
than the act of watching itself. For example, Linebarger and Walker (2005)
analysed television viewing information for 51 infants and toddlers. In this study,
program content was found to correlate to media effects: the best programs
were found to have age-specific embedded linguistic strategies and to promote
active participation by the child. Rideout and Hamel (2006) point out that
another positive impact of television viewing may be the opportunity it affords
for parent–child bonding. Skouteris and McHardy’s Australian study (2009)
indicates that child informative programs are positively associated with both
pretend play and outdoor play.
9
Television:
entertainment or education?
In assessing the field of television programming specific to toddlers, preschool
and early primary school children, it is important to first point out the enduring
distinction between commercial and public television. This has traditionally been
couched as a market-driven private media versus an educative public media
(Melody 1973; Ang 1991), although such a distinction has become blurred in
more recent years and with the advent of subscription television. Despite the
advent of new screen media, young children in Australia are now viewing more
public or free-to-air television than ever before (ACMA 2007).
The field of cognitive developmental psychology has produced the most
evidence to suggest that there are educational benefits to young person’s
television viewing in the home. The most studied group of children are those in
the pre-operational stage of development, the target audience for educational
programs such as Sesame Street and Play School. There is evidence that
these children are cognitively active, goal-directed viewers who use the formal
features of television to guide them towards content that suits their current
developmental needs (Bickham et al. 2001; Huston et al. 2000; Huston et
al. 2007). These US studies found benefits to children of this age group, in
terms of later school achievement, from viewing programs made with their
developmental needs in mind. It should be noted that in most US research
school readiness, particularly among disadvantaged ‘minorities’, is defined as a
key developmental need.
An important earlier longitudinal study concerning very young children and
their ability to learn vocabulary from television found an apparent causal
connection between 3-year-old children’s viewing of an educational program
(Sesame Street) and their improved scores on vocabulary tests (Huston et al.
2000; Anderson et al. 2001). The Centre for Research on the Influences of
Television on Children conducted an initial survey on the effects of educational
television viewing in children aged 2 to 5 years and 4 to 7 years (the Early
Window Project), followed by a further survey of participants when they were
in their teenage years (the Recontact Project) (Bickham et al. 2001; Huston
et al. 2000). Significant consumption of educational television programming
was found to result in enhanced achievement in reading and mathematics.
The Recontact Project also found that the viewing of educational programs at
younger ages (2 to 3 years) had a greater impact than viewing from 4 years of
age onwards, suggesting that there is a window of opportunity for very young
10
children in which watching educational television can have its longest and most
powerful effects.
In a 2007 review of 50 years of US research on television, cognitive development
and educational achievement, the authors concluded that educational television has
a substantial positive influence on children’s educational achievement (Schmidt and
Anderson 2007). Conversely, they also found that entertainment television viewing
has a negative impact upon educational achievement. The review did find some
evidence that television viewing in the early school years may negatively affect
reading acquisition, although from the third grade onwards television viewing is
unrelated to reading achievement (Schmidt and Anderson 2007).
Zimmerman and Christakis (2007) state that while the association between
early television viewing and attention problems is specific to the consumption of
entertainment programming before the age of 3 years, viewing of any content
subsequent to this age is not associated with attentional deficit. Nonetheless,
the balance of opinion is now weighted toward the idea that—at least for
children over 2 years of age—content is more important than the media being
used or the time spent using it (Brooks-Gunn and Donahue 2008). Ageappropriate television programs of educational value are widely considered
beneficial to the development and wellbeing of even very young children
(Huston et al. 2007). However, the question of whether the time a child spends
with a book is more influential than the same time spent with educational
electronic media has yet to be established by research.
Content issues: Program design and children’s
comprehension
Child informative, or
curriculum-based, content is
shown to be associated with
better educational outcomes
than general entertainment
programs … Programs must,
however, be designed with
young children’s cognitive
abilities in mind.
As touched on above, the content of television watched
by children is considered more important than simply the
amount of time they spend watching. Child informative, or
curriculum-based, content is shown to be associated with
better educational outcomes than general entertainment
programs (Schmidt and Anderson 2007). Programs must,
however, be designed with young children’s cognitive
abilities in mind.
Research on children’s comprehension of explicit versus
implicit information in television content suggests that
preschool-aged children generally lack the processing
space and attention skills required to understand implicitly
presented material, such as events that are implied but not
11
directly shown on the screen (Collins et al. 1978, cited in Skouteris et al. 2007).
The ability to make complex inferences about a story’s implicit content appears
to develop only at around 7 to 8 years of age (Mares 2006; Collins et al.
1981, cited in Skouteris et al. 2007). Researchers focusing on the educational
outcomes of Sesame Street have argued that where the educational content
of a program is integral to the narrative (story) content, children’s processing
and understanding is increased. Understanding of the story enhances
comprehension of the educational content (Fisch 2002).
Much research has looked at children’s attention to, and comprehension of,
television programs. There are competing theories of attention. Singer (1980)
proposes that young children’s attention to television is primarily gained and
maintained through formal features that elicit orienting reactions such as
movement and scene changes. Advertisements commonly use these attentiongaining devices. However, other researchers argue that young children’s
attention to television is primarily driven by their comprehension of the
program’s content (Anderson and Lorch 1983). They argue that mere formal
features will become less attention-worthy once children become familiar
with them, while attention to a program that is challenging but somewhat
understandable should increase until that content is optimally understood.
…repetition of the same
episode of a preschool
educational program within a
broadcaster’s schedule or…
repetition of common program
elements (eg matching games,
pretend play, story time) should
promote comprehension of and
thus attention to the content.
Thus (1) repetition of the same episode of a preschool
educational program within a broadcaster’s schedule
or (2) repetition of common program elements (eg
matching games, pretend play, story time) should promote
comprehension of and thus attention to the content. Noble
proposed that ‘parasocial interaction’—the guidance of a
sympathetic adult host to elicit children’s participation in
the educational content—was crucial to content for this
age group. Programs designed for a preschool audience
are thus commonly designed to elicit overt verbal and
behavioural reactions (interactions) from the viewers (Duck
and Noble 1979; Crawley et al. 1999).
12
Screen media, health and obesity
An increasing amount of research is being conducted into links between media
use and obesity in very young children (Wake et al. 2006; Wake et al. 2008;
Mathers et al. 2009). Analysis of advertising content during children’s television
programming, primarily in the US, has consistently shown that the majority of
food advertisements aimed at children feature poor quality, ‘junk’ foods (Batada
and Wootan 2007; Radnitz et al. 2009; Stitt and Kunkel 2008). More research
needs to be done on this in the Australian context where the relationship
between advertising regulation and broadcast sectors differs.
A longitudinal study in New Zealand by Hancox and Poulton (2006) supports
an association between television viewing and obesity, as measured by
increased body mass index (BMI). More than 1000 participants were surveyed
every two years from age 3 to 15 years. The study found that the mean hours
of watching television in childhood was associated with an increased BMI in
later years, particularly in young girls; moreover, the association remained strong
even after adjusting for socioeconomic status and parental BMI (Hancox and
Poulton 2006).
Borzekowski and Robinson (2001) conducted a controlled study to establish
the effect televised food commercials have on the dietary preferences of
preschool children aged between 2 and 6 years of age. They found that children
who watched videos with embedded food commercials were significantly more
likely to choose the advertised food item from a pair of similar products, with
only one or two exposures to the advertisement able to influence the children’s
short-term preferences. On the basis of their research, Borzekowski and
Robinson argued that the exposure of preschool-aged children to television
advertisements should be strictly limited. In addition, a very recent study of the
effects of different kinds of television content on children’s obesity suggests
that the pathway to increased BMI is through exposure to advertising on
commercial television rather than decreased physical activity because of the
total amount of time spent viewing (Zimmerman and Bell 2010).
Mendoza et al. (2007) established that US preschool children who view electronic
media for more than two hours each day are at significantly higher risk of obesity;
these findings, they argue, justify intervention studies to limit usage within this
specific age range. Similarly, Epstein et al. (2008) found a correlation between
the use of screen media and increased BMI in a sample of children aged
between 4 and 7 years. More recently, Australian public health researchers used
meta-analysis and microsimulation to model the effects of an intervention to
13
reduce advertisements for EDNP (energy dense, nutritionally poor) foods such
as soft drinks and junk foods, during times when children aged 5 to 14 years
were a substantial part of the viewing audience (≥ 15%). While this study involved
projections and economic modelling, rather than a study of effects over time, the
researchers concluded that such an intervention would be one of the most costeffective public health measures available to governments: their model showed
reduction in years of life lost and years lived with disability-attributable health
issues caused by poor diet (Magnus et al. 2009).
Recent evidence also suggests that young children are susceptible to online
advertising, with a study showing that ‘advergames’ targeted at children
combine computer play with foodstuffs, the latter mostly constituting ‘junk food’
products (Lee et al. 2009; see also Kaiser Family Foundation 2006; Mallinckrodt
and Mizerski 2007: Livingstone 2006). An analysis by Stratton et al. (2005) of
information collected in the 2003 Australian Bureau of Statistics Children’s
Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities survey found that children (aged
5 to 14 years) who use a computer or the Internet at home, as well as those
spending some time playing computer games, are more likely to play organised
sport outside school. However, children who watched more than 20 hours of
television per fortnight were significantly less likely to participate in sport.
One potentially useful insight from the body of research on the effects of
advertising on young children’s food consumption is the suggestion that
interventions involving the advertising of healthy, nutritional foodstuffs may also
affect children’s consumption behaviours, in a positive way (for example, see
Byrne and Nitzke 2002).
14
Young children as consumers
According to Schor (2004), in contemporary society children are immersed
in an ever-growing media culture of advertising and branding. Further, this
immersion is beginning at an earlier age as companies target even very
young children as potential consumers of their products. Schor advocates
wide-ranging legislative and cultural changes in order to combat the
commercialisation of childhood, including government regulation to respond
to corporate strategies for targeting very young children; community
dialogue between corporations, parents and children; and strategies for the
decommercialisation of both households and public spaces. The fact that
children under 8 years of age find it more difficult than their older counterparts
to make profound differentiations between programs and advertisements
(Jennings and Wartella 2007) means that they are especially vulnerable to
corporate marketing practices.
In a review of 25 years of literature on the consumer socialisation of children,
John (1999) finds that each stage of a child’s development features specific
cognitive and social characteristics and that each of these stages has
implications for socialisation into consumer society. According to John, children
shift from a naively simple and trusting attitude towards the world (including
advertising and marketing manifestations of the world) to an increasingly
complex and sceptical (or even eventually cynical) worldview. The study
suggests that children in the perceptual stage (between the ages of 3 and 7
years) are especially vulnerable and open to persuasion by media marketing
and branding. John also summarises how, in the perceptual stage, children
take appearance as reality, believe ads are truthful and begin to relate brand
names with product categories. Perhaps most crucially, John’s review finds that
children in this stage have a limited repertoire of decision-making strategies,
and value consumer items only for their ‘surface features’.
Moondoore et al. (2009) tested a theory that young children begin to recognise
and differentiate televised advertising material at around 5 years of age.
Subjects between the ages of 6 to 12 years were shown printed versions of
webpage advertisements. The study found that 6 to 8-year-old children were
significantly less likely to identify web-based advertisements, suggesting that
their integrated nature makes it harder for young children to differentiate
ads from the core program. Chakroff (2007) further confirms that while the
cognitive ability of very young children makes it difficult for them to understand
the persuasive nature of advertisements, they are nonetheless able to recognise
brands and develop materialistic desires for specific advertised products.
15
Chakroff suggested that more research is needed in order to understand
how children under 8 years of age think about advertising messages and how
caregivers might be taught how to mediate the influence of those messages.
Young Australians Survey (YAS)—Roy Morgan Research
In the year to June 2009 the YAS surveyed 3359 respondents aged between 6
and 13 years. The sample is designed to provide reliable national estimates. The
findings presented here are based on survey responses from 1503 children
aged 6 to 9 years of age.
The survey contained questions asking who makes purchasing decisions. The
graph below maps the percentage of children (6 to 9 years) who reported that
they mainly decide, they helped their parents decide or a parent mainly decides.
Note: the percentage of children who responded ‘can’t say’ or did not provide an
answer is not included in this table.
Chart 1: Decisions on buying: Children 6 to 9 years, 2009
100
60
40
20
I mainly decide
d
e
at
D
M
ob inne en
ile
rf
oo
ph
ds
on
e
fo
rm
e
an
s
s
le
ab
et
Ve
g
cr
ea
m
br
in
k
t
Help parents decide
Ic
e
l lu
nc
h
dr
Fr
ui
D
s
C
Sc
ho
o
lo
m
th
e
es
C
om
fo
rm
pu
e
te
rg
Br
am
an
Sc
es
d
ho
of
ol
ch
lu
ip
nc
s
h
sn
ac
ks
s
C
oe
s
fo
r
ea
l
s
er
Sh
ea
kf
as
tc
DV
D
es
os
/
Br
Vi
de
G
am
s
0
To
y
Percentage
80
Parents mainly decide
Source: Roy Morgan Research Young Australians Survey
16
It is clear that children have the greatest say in what kind of toys and games are
bought for them, and to a lesser extent, videos and DVDs hired or purchased.
There is a large class of items where the children feel they exercise what is
often called ‘pester power’ to assist their parents in making choices. These
co-determined items include products shown in other research to be relevant
to weight status, self-esteem and learning. For example, clothes and shoes
have both been shown in the qualitative literature to be closely connected
with personal identity and acceptance by peers. Breakfast nutrition has been
linked with learning while snacks are often categorised as potential ‘junk foods’
that contribute to overweight and obesity. Children’s co-determination also
extends to the choice of media content. Parents mostly seem to be in control of
lunchtime drinks and snack, dinner foods, the choice of vegetables and the type
of ice cream.
Interestingly, the YAS data asks children whether they agree or disagree
with the statement ‘I like healthy food’. The proportion of young children who
agree with that statement diminishes as average weekly hours spent viewing
television rises ie young children who watch less television are more likely
to agree that they like healthy food than those with higher average hours of
television viewing.
Consistent with the child development literature, children become more critical
viewers as they mature, developing a distrust of the claims and appeals made
in advertising. More than half (54%) of 6 to 9 year olds agree that ‘some TV
advertising is sneaky’ while 67% of 10 to 13-year-old children agree with this
statement.
As they mature, young Australians exhibit a greater interest in print media,
particularly magazines, greater use of mobile phones and the Internet.
About 7% of 6 to 9 year olds report owning a mobile phone, while about
one-quarter report having used a mobile phone in the past four weeks,
predominantly for social contact, listening to music, taking pictures and gameplaying. Half of the 10 to 13-year-old respondents owned a mobile phone.
A similar pattern of increasing participation and interest applies to accessing
content via the Internet. One in six (17%) 6 to 9 year olds accessed the site
ninemsn (including Hotmail and Messenger) in the past four weeks compared
with 55% of 10 to 13 year olds.
17
Media content and decision
making by young children
Studies of children’s reactions to television content have found that even infants
make decisions about program content, attending to material that is of interest
to them and turning away from content that is beyond their sphere of interest or
understanding (Valkenberg and Vroone 2004).
As already noted, a number of authors have emphasised that the media content
consumed by very young children is the crucial factor that should drive research
and policy (Brooks-Gunn and Donahue 2008; Skouteris and McHardy 2009). It
is therefore important to consider the extent to which children under 8 years of
age make decisions about the kind of media content they consume, as well as
how such children might be actively involved in the creation of such content. The
mass of literature on media use and effects has been challenged to some extent
by research and theory, based largely in sociology and cultural studies, which
argues that even very young children are both discerning and creative in the ways
that they use media content in their day-to-day lives (Buckingham 1996). Yet it
must again be emphasised that the research concerning new electronic media
and very young children is particularly limited. This review found little research on
content creation at home in discretionary time by young children.
In her analysis of social developmental patterns in children’s media use in
discretionary time, Sonia Livingstone (2002) describes children aged 6 to 8
years as having an ‘activity focus’, in which children are engaged in a diversity
of play activities at home, resulting in low media use, combined with relatively
formal organised activities outside the home, such as clubs and sports. Parental
mediation is the norm with regard to children’s activities during this period,
including use of media.
The computer and the Internet are undoubtedly the media at the forefront
of digital literacy and active participation, and there is evidence that even
preschool-aged children are becoming regular computer users (Rideout and
Hamel 2006; Zevenbergen and Logan 2008). Wave 2.5 of LSAC found that
computers were present in more than 71% of households with 3 to 4-year-old
children, and more than 90% of homes with 7 to 8 year-olds. The age of the
children in the household predicted more computer and Internet access: 65%
of households with 3 to 4 year olds and 72% of households with 7 to 8 year
olds had Internet access. In addition, 23% of households with 3 to 4-year-old
children, and 65% of homes with 7 to 8 year olds had an electronic games
system such as Gameboy, Nintendo, PlayStation or X-Box (ACMA 2009).
18
Simple availability of media devices does not mean that young children are
their primary users: older siblings and adults may command greater access.
In addition, parents of children aged 3 to 4 years and 7 to 8 years generally
feel that their child’s media use is easy for them to control. The LSAC findings
indicate that 40% of the study children aged 3 to 4 years used a computer at
home (average 7 minutes per day), and 16% played electronic games (average
3 minutes per day). Most children aged 7 to 8 years used the Internet at home
(84%), primarily for playing games (ACMA 2009).
Some early childhood literacy research has documented use of the Internet,
video games and phones (either real or toy) in fantasy play and playground talk.
These practices are seen as enhancing young children’s formation of social
identities and practicing of identities as communicators and digital technology
users (Marsh 2005). There is also literature on the use of digital communication
and technologies to enrich print-based literacy such as classroom writing in
school-aged children (Merchant 2003: Unsworth 2006).
The concept of digital literacy moves the emphasis from simply encountering
existing media to focusing on the user as an active creator of media content
(Hartley et al. 2008). Multimodal literacy is important to the notion of young
children actively engaging in media content creation, as it emphasises children’s
ability to read, create, design and produce meaning simultaneously across a
range of media texts and genres (Callow and Zammit 2002; Kress and van
Leeuwen 2001; Mackay 2002; Snyder 1998; Unsworth 2006).2
2
Ongoing Australian research on digital media literacy, including content creation can be
accessed via the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s Digital Media Literacy
Research Forum, http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311477
19
Mediation
The impact of familial mediating factors on young children’s media use patterns
has been well documented (Calvert 1999; Huston et al. 1990; Nathanson
1999, 2001). Rideout and Hamel (2006) note that parents’ own media
presumptions and habits relate closely to the media consumption of their
children.
Nathanson (1999) describes three ‘distinct but related’ aspects of parental
mediation of children’s television viewing: active mediation, or talking to children
about TV; restrictive mediation, or setting rules or regulations about children’s
TV viewing; and co-viewing, or simply watching TV with children. In relation to
restrictive mediation, ACMA (2009) reports that the vast majority (94%) of
parents set rules for the television content that their 3 to 4-year-old children
can watch, and that most (64%) set rules for the length of time their child can
watch television each day.
Looking specifically at the parental mediation of television viewing by
preschool-aged children, Warren (2003) argues that parental mediation of
media use must be considered in light of the vast array of mediating activities
that comprise the day-to-day interaction between child and parent. The study
finds that although co-viewing is likely to be the most useful method of
mediating for the cognitive needs of preschool children, most parents use the
strategy of restrictive mediation.
Kirkorian et al. (2008) summarise the crucial mediators for effective educational
media, arguing that very young children require content that is comprehensible,
repetitive and encourages active involvement rather than passive viewing. The
authors conclude that parental mediation in the form of co-viewing is most likely
to be beneficial.
The US-based evidence in relation to young children and print media points to
important correlations between reading and parental mediation (Roberts and
Foehr 2004). Evidence shows that there is a relationship between parental
education and a child’s exposure to print media, and also that as the availability
of television in a household increases, the availability of print media decreases.
Overall, preschoolers whose parents read to them have increased vocabulary
and better narrative skills (Thorn 2008).
In a study involving participants between 5 and 7 years of age and their
parents, Chakroff (2007) shows that active mediation strategies by caregivers
work better than restrictive mediation strategies. For example, in relation to
20
advertising, children are likely to remember and respond to parental mediation
that targets the desirability of the specific product advertised rather than
mediation that emphasises that advertisements are not realistic portrayals of
the world.
Overall, the evidence points to the need for parents and caregivers to focus on
active mediation.
21
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