TV cuts chances of getting a degree

Children who spend hours in front of the television are less likely to have a university degree in their mid-20s, a New Zealand study has found.

The research concluded that even bright children who watched lots of television had fewer qualifications from universities.

"These findings suggest that reducing television viewing could improve the education of New Zealand children," one of the researchers, Bob Hancox, said last night.

The University of Otago study monitored the TV habits of more than 1000 children, born in Dunedin in 1972 and 1973, between the ages of 5 and 15.

It found that those who watched the most television had earned fewer qualifications by the time they were 26. Just 7 per cent of the children watched less than an hour a day. They were the most qualified in their mid-20s.

And one academic says it will be worse for future generations, with videos, computers and the internet offering more "screen time" to youngsters.

Dr Hancox, deputy director of the Dunedin Research Unit, said those who watched the least television had the best chance of going on to university and earning a degree.

But watching television as a teenager made little difference. It was earlier childhood viewing that had the greatest impact on getting a degree.

"This suggests that excessive television in younger children has a long-lasting, adverse effect on educational performance," Dr Hancox said.

The average television watching was two hours a day, though this shot up at weekends.

Teenagers reported watching an average of about 24 hours a week - meaning that over a year they spent more time in front of the screen than in the classroom.

Over 20 per cent watched more than three hours each schoolday and they did the worst academically, including in School Certificate, Bursary, trade diplomas and at degree level.

Previous studies have investigated the link between television viewing and school performance but the Otago research is the first in the world to track a group of children into adulthood.

The study found that the educational effects were not explained by intelligence or socio-economic factors.

Other studies round the world have had conflicting findings, with some suggesting watching television can improve learning.

But Dr Hancox said these had not been adjusted for intelligence and family background, and had not followed youngsters into adulthood.

Parents, communities and society as a whole had a role to play in reducing children's TV time, he said.

The study, Association of Television Viewing During Childhood With Poor Educational Achievement, will be published in the international journal Archives of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

The results need to be considered with caution, say some experts.

Dr Ruth Zanker, research leader of the broadcasting school at Christchurch Polytechnic, said the children who were left to watch hours of television often had parents who did not set limits to help create an academic environment.

"I don't know if you can necessarily isolate television as the root of all evils," she said.

The study has sparked fears about future generations, exposed to far more media than those involved in the research.

Wayne Hope, senior communications lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, said children today had a huge amount of entertainment on offer, with countless more television channels, games consoles, cellphones and personal computers.

Annemarie Duff, general manager of programming at TVNZ, said children needed time to relax and be entertained as well as time for study and other interests.

"That's about parental balance."

Average time spent watching TV (per day) v levels of academic achievement

2.76 hours - Left school with no qualification
2.5 hours - School Certificate
2.3 hours - Post-school qualification (eg Bursary)
1.9 hours - University degree