WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Teenagers with a bedroom televisiontend to have poorer diet and exercise habits and lower gradesin school t
han those without one, U.S. researchers said onMonday.
While many studies have examined TV viewing habits of youngpeople, researchers at the University of Minnesota School ofPublic Health said little had been known about the consequencesin particular for older adolescents of having a bedroom TV.
They questioned 781 adolescents, ages 15 to 18, in theMinneapolis area in 2003 and 2004. Of them, 62 percent reportedhaving a television in their bedroom.
Not surprisingly, those with a bedroom TV were more apt towatch it a lot, clocking four to five more hours in front of atelevision per week, the researchers said. Twice as many of theteens with a bedroom TV were classified as heavy TV watchers --at least five hours a day -- compared to those without one.
Girls with a bedroom television reported getting lessvigorous exercise -- 1.8 hours per week compared to 2.5 hoursfor girls without a TV. They also ate fewer vegetables, drankmore sweetened beverages and ate meals with their family lessoften, the researchers said.
Boys with a bedroom TV reported having a lower grade pointaverage than boys without one, as well as eating less fruit andhaving fewer family meals, the researchers said.
"It really clearly points out that there's some merit tonot allowing your child to have a TV in the bedroom," saidDaheia Barr-Anderson, one of the researchers.
"When you upgrade your TV in the living room and you havethis smaller TV that's out of date but still usable, parentsshould really resist putting it in one of your children'sbedrooms -- and resist the pressure from the child to have a TVin their bedroom," she said in a telephone interview.
SURPRISE ON OBESITY
The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to removeTV sets from children's bedrooms, the researchers noted. Thefindings were published in the academy's journal Pediatrics.
Boys were more likely to have a television in their bedroomthan girls -- 68 percent versus 58 percent.
Teens from the highest income families were far less likelythan those from all other income levels to have a bedroom TV,the survey found.
Among black teens, 82 percent reported having a bedroom TV,compared to 66 percent of Hispanics, 60 percent of whites and39 percent of Asian Americans.
The researchers tracked body mass index -- a measure basedon height and weight -- and found that having a bedroom TV hadno influence on whether teens were obese.
Barr-Anderson said that finding was a surprise, consideringthat previous studies looking at younger children -- one onelementary school kids and one on low-income preschoolers --found that having a bedroom TV was an even stronger predictorof obesity than the time spent watching TV.
Both boys and girls with a bedroom TV reported spendingless time reading and doing homework, although the researcherssaid the differences were not statistically significant.
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Eric Beech)
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