A study of parents' perceptions of the influence on children's behaviour of imported children's television programs in Jakarta

Master of ArtsThe principal aim of this study is to survey parents' perceptions of the influence of imported children's television programs on their children's behaviour. The survey was carried out in the Jakarta area. The study was promoted by a desire to investigate the claim made by some social commentators in Indonesia recently that children's behaviour was worsening, especially since the rapid expansion of commercial television. For the survey, a group of 388 parents of mixed socio-economic status were questioned. As a further step, qualitative research techniques were used to interview key personnel from the Indonesian television industry. Both the quantitative and qualitative data obtained was related to imported children's programs broadcast on both commercial and government channels. The result indicate that there w as no significant correlation between increased negative behaviour in children and the watching of imported children's programs. Most parents were inclined toward the view that they could not be certain whether or not their children's behaviour was influenced by imported children's television programs. Neither did they consider such programs to have a negative influence on their children's behaviour. Variation in parents' socio-economic status did not lead to a significant difference in percentages. Since parents did not perceive there to be any correlation, there may be other factors at work leading children to behave in increasingly negative ways, or perhaps the social commentators are mistaken and children's behaviour is not worsening at al