As Kids TV Time Rises, Grades Fall

Oct. 2, 2006 --To get better grades, students (or their parents) may need to pull the plug on TV time, a new study shows.

The study, published in Pediatrics, includes these tips for parents of middle-school students:

• Limit students to no more than 1 hour daily of TV or video games.
• Set firm rules about students' TV and video game use.
• Restrict students' access to movies with "R" ratings.

The researchers included Iman Sharif, MD, MPH, of the pediatrics department at New York's Children's Hospital at Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Sharif's team gave surveys to about 4,500 middle-school students (grades 5-8) in New Hampshire and Vermont.

In the survey, students reported whether their grades in the previous year were excellent, good, average, or below average.

The surveys also covered these topics:

• Time spent watching TV on weekdays and weekends
• Time spent playing video games on weekdays and weekends
• Access to cable movie channels
• Parental rules about TV use
• Experience watching movies with "R" ratings
• Self-esteem
• Rebelliousness
• Mother's parentingparenting style

Best Grades, Least Screen Time

The students gave their grades pretty good reviews:

• Excellent: 36%
• Good: 38%
• Average: 20%
• Below average: 7%

Students reporting the highest grades spent the least amount of time watching TV and playing video games during weekdays.

Those students were also the most likely to have parents with rules about TV use, and they were the least likely to have watched movies with "R" ratings.

The results held after the researchers weighed other influences such as the kids' self-esteem and rebelliousness, their mothers' parenting style, and social or economic factors.

Which Came First: Grades or TV?

The study doesn't prove that TV time made grades slip.

It's possible that the students with the best grades just aren't drawn to TV, and vice versa, the researchers note.

Sharif and colleagues didn't actually check the students' report cards. But they say students generally tell researchers the truth about their grades.

Weekend time watching TV or playing video games wasn't tied to the students' grades. That may be because there's time for those activities -- without sacrificing studying -- on weekends.

Because the study was only done in two states -- and most participants were white -- it's not clear if the findings apply nationwide.

Still, the results support the recommendation for parents to limit their middle-school children's TV and video game time to one hour or less daily, Sharif's team writes.

SOURCES: Sharif, I. Pediatrics, October 2006; vol 118: pp e1061-e1070. News release, American Academy of Pediatrics.