ARTICLE Reducing Children’s Television-Viewing Time: A Qualitative Study of Parents and Their Children

The authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose. OBJECTIVES. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children over age 2 years spend 2 hours per day with screen media, because excessive viewing has been linked to a plethora of physical, academic, and behavioral problems. The primary goal of this study was to qualitatively explore how a recommendation to limit television viewing might be received and responded to by a diverse sample of parents and their school-age children. METHODS. The study collected background data about media use, gathered a house-hold media inventory, and conducted in-depth individual and small group inter-views with 180 parents and children ages 6 to 13 years old. RESULTS.Most of the children reported spending 3 hours per day watching televi-sion. The average home in this sample had 4 television sets; nearly two thirds had a television in the child’s bedroom, and nearly half had a television set in the kitchen or dining room. Although virtually all of the parents reported havin