Poster #85 - Understanding the Developmental Significance of Aggressive Television Shows on Preschooler’s Aggressive Behavior

• In Event: Poster Session 07

Abstract

Preschool age is a time when the influence of television is salient and children are most affected by the content and duration of the TV they consume (Kostyrka-Allchorne et al., 2017). Current children’s television shows are filled with a mix of prosocial, aggressive, fantastical, and educational content (Taggart et al., 2019), and it is important to understand how different content affects children’s behavior, especially during the influential preschool years. In particular, exploring the relations between aggressive television content and aggressive behavior has important implications for understanding factors contributing to children’s aggression. Previous studies have found support for this relation (Coyne et al., 2017), but there is a dearth of literature that positions the relation in the context of the current landscape of children’s television. Thus, the present study explores the relation between watching televised aggression and aggressive behavior using television shows that reflect what preschoolers in the U.S. are currently watching.

136 caregivers (54.4% male; 61.8% White, 25.7% Black, 12.5% Asian, 8.8% Latinx, 5.1% Native American or Alaskan Native, 1.5% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, .7% Middle Eastern) of children ages 4-6 completed an anonymous survey in which they rated how much aggressive content they observed in their child’s top three favorite shows. Caregiver ratings of aggressive behavior were collected using Dodge and Coie’s (1987) measure of reactive and proactive aggression. Caregiver ratings of prosocial behavior were collected using the five-item Prosocial Scale from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997, 2001).

There was a significant, positive correlation between caregivers’ cumulative TV aggression ratings and overall Dodge aggression scores (r = .204, p =.017). There was also a significant, positive correlation between TV aggression and proactive aggression (r =.171, p = .047), as well as a significant positive relation between TV aggression and reactive aggression (r = .196, p = .022). There was no statistically significant relation between TV aggression ratings and prosocial behavior, but the relation trended negative (r = -.110, p = .201) These findings illustrate that watching television shows with more aggressive content relates to children exhibiting more aggressive behavior.

Aggression is an age-salient socioemotional behavior for preschoolers. Thus, it is necessary to understand what contextual and environmental factors are affecting this behavior. By understanding the relation between aggressive television and aggressive behavior, these findings present a first step in understanding the role television plays in preschoolers’ lives. Higher aggressive content predicting greater aggression indicates that children may be learning aggression from TV and replicating it in their behavior. This has implications for how caregivers approach television watching since aggression is a maladaptive behavior in most contexts. One of the limitations of this study is its correlational design. Thus, a follow-up study will be conducted wherein children will watch one of four TV shows, each with a different level of aggressive content, and then complete measures of aggressive behavior. This will elucidate whether there is a direct causal effect between degree of aggressive television content and children’s aggressive behavior. Data will be analyzed by SRCD 2023.

Authors

• Benjamin Wolff, Clark University
  Presenting Author

• Ana Kamille Marcelo, Clark University