Thousands of kids see adult TV

While Gabrielle was being Lady Chatterley with her gardener on Desperate Housewives last year, about 40,000 primary school-aged children were watching.

Desperate Housewives - classified as adults only - was one of the most popular adults programmes for New Zealand children in that age group, according to research by AGB Nielsen Media Research.

They were among the 20 per cent of children in that age group, about 100,000 children, who were still watching weeknight television at 8.30pm - when adults-only programming begins.

The figures worry child psychologist Glen Stenhouse who believes exposure to adult themes such as sex could result in sexually inappropriate behaviour among young children.

Mr Stenhouse's views accord with a study in the American journal Pediatrics, which found that children exposed to sex in the media were more likely to have sex at an earlier age.

As well as the average of 8.4 per cent of young children who watched Desperate Housewives last year, AGB Nielsen Media Research figures showed 30,000 children watched Lost, and 20,500 watched CSI Miami, both classified as adults-only programmes.

Significant numbers of young children also watched movies rated as suitable for people aged 16 and over, such as The Sixth Sense (33,000).

Others watched Signs (43,000), Austin Powers in Goldmember (40,000), Die Another Day (37,000) - all rated M because of violence and sexual content - and the violent R16 movie Exit Wounds (23,000).

Mr Stenhouse said while adults were able to recognise that "super soaps" like Desperate Housewives were fantastical, young children could not.

"It is completely inappropriate entertainment for children of that age. If you introduce adult sexuality to children, it's too much for them to understand. It's more likely to be confusing and unsettling. Most parents know that it's not okay to expose children to adult sexual behaviour. There's certainly no educational value in it, so the only thing you're left with is that it's that sort of unhealthy interest in adult issues which children should be protected from until they are mature enough to understand."

The findings have fuelled a campaign by a television watchdog, Viewers for Television Excellence (Vote), to have the adults-only hour pushed back to 9.30pm.

The Nielsen Media figures showed that at 9.30pm, 11 per cent of young children were watching, and by 10pm on weekdays, an average of 8 per cent of children were still in front of the television.

The figures for the weekend are likely to be higher. A 2000 Colmar Brunton survey found 69 per cent of children were watching television at 8.30pm on a Saturday.

The president of Vote, John Terris, said children watching violence on television could believe it was a normal way to solve problems.

"Of course it is parents' responsibility to be careful what their children are watching.

"You can't have the thought police entering homes demanding to know if your children are watching television at 8.30pm. As far as the broadcasters are concerned, they are pushing the envelope as far as they can because of advertising revenue and we have to put a flag up."

Both TVNZ and TV3 said it was ultimately up to parents to censor their children's viewing, especially after 8.30pm.

TVNZ spokesman Joss Debreceny said it was nationally accepted that normal viewing times for children were up to 8.30pm.

"TVNZ does all it can to schedule content at appropriate times and to warn viewers about content that may disturb. For example, TVNZ schedules programmes containing stronger material or special elements which fall outside the AO classification after 9.30pm.

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians issued a 2004 paper summing up all the research, and linking television to obesity, ill-health and psychological issues in children.