Not all Background TV is Created Equal: Formal-Feature Density Moderates the Impact of Adult-Directed TV on Toddlers’ Play

• In Event: 2-161 - Influences on very young children’s screened media use and their development

Integrative Statement

Children ages 8 months to 2 years are exposed to roughly 5.5 hours of background TV each day (Lapierre et al., 2012). This exposure disrupts behaviors important for development in young children. For example, adult-directed content decreases parent-child interaction (Kirkorian et al., 2009) and toy play (Schmidt et al., 2008) in toddlers. The goal of the current study was to examine whether the density of salient “formal features,” (e.g., camera cuts, on-screen movement, sound effects) moderates the effects of background TV on toddlers’ toy play. Because salient formal features in child-directed programs elicit toddlers’ attention (Gola & Calvert, 2011), we predicted that an adult-directed program with a high density of salient formal features would elicit more attention to the TV and disrupt toy play to a greater extent than a low-density program.

Fifty toddlers (12-24 months) participated in each of three randomly ordered 10-minute conditions, including no TV, high-density TV (Wheel of Fortune), and low-density TV (Charlie Rose). Children were free to play with an array of age-appropriate toys in a lab designed to resemble a family room. Parents were asked not to initiate interaction, as we wanted to assess toddlers’ solitary play. Sessions were recorded and coded for attention and play behaviors. The first coding pass captured onsets and offsets of attention shifts to TV, parent, toys, and other objects. The second coding pass categorized instances of active toy play as low-complexity (exploratory or functional) and high-complexity (relational or pretend) using a 15-second time-sampling method (Belsky & Most, 1981).

Across all conditions, toddlers’ attention was directed primarily at toys. This was moderated by TV condition, F(2,92) = 4.73, p = .011, partial η2 = .093. Attention to toys was lower for high-density TV than for low-density TV or no TV (see Figure 1). TV condition also affected attention to the TV, [F(2,92) = 42.74, p < .001, partial η2 = .482], with greater attention to high-density than low-density content (see Figure 1).

Coding for play maturity is ongoing. Preliminary analyses based on 30% of the sample indicated a marginal effect of condition for the proportion of play intervals categorized as high-complexity (versus low-complexity), F(2, 28) = 3.27, p = .053, partial η2 = .189. Specifically, high-complexity play behaviors were relatively less common during high-density TV than low-density TV (p = .022) or no TV (p = .033). See Figure 2.
As predicted, formal feature density moderated the effects of background TV on attention to toys and the complexity of play. Specifically, attention to toys was displaced by attention to TV in the presence of an adult-directed program with a high density of salient features. Additional coding will determine the extent to which high-density TV specifically decreases more complex levels of play, as suggested by preliminary data. Together, these findings help to elucidate the specific conditions under which background TV may be detrimental to early development. In particular, this work highlights the importance of considering parents’ media use as part of the child’s home media context.

Authors

• Tiffany Pempek, Hollins University
  Presenting Author

• Heather Kirkorian, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mengguo Jing, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Non-Presenting Author

• Seung Heon Yoo, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Non-Presenting Author