TV +
Bedroom = Lower Grades
MediaQuotient®
Study Reveals
(MINNEAPOLIS)—
August 3, 2000. The National Institute on
Media and the Family announced today that
children who have televisions in their bedrooms
watch more TV, have less family interaction,
and have worse grades than those who don't.
The findings are updated statistics from
the on-going MediaQuotient:
National Survey of Family Media Habits,
Knowledge and Attitudes study,
a comprehensive database of American family
media habits.
The study reveals a concrete
relationship between a family's media habits
and school performance. It also indicates
that parents who demonstrate a high awareness
of the effects of media on their children's
lives, monitor media's use, and encourage
alternative activities to electronic media,
are more likely to have children who do
better in school.
MediaQuotient
also revealed that kids who have TVs in
the bedroom:
"None of this means that
every child who has a television in his
or her bedroom will stop reading, playing
baseball, or receive failing grades,"
said David Walsh, Ph.D., President and Founder
of the Minneapolis-based National Institute
on Media and the Family. "But because
most of the parents in this country are
allowing children to have TVs in their bedrooms,
they should know that there may be some
consequences attached to that decision."
According to Kaiser Family
Foundation's &quo;Kids & Media @ the
New Millennium," 1999 study, 65 percent
of school-age children (ages 8 - 18) have
a television set in their bedroom.
