Children and teenagers who spend a lot of time watching television are at an increased risk of developing antisocial and criminal behaviour later in life, according to a new study by the University of Otago.
Co-author of the study, Lindsay Robertson said it wasn’t the antisocial kids who were more glued to television “Rather, children who watched a lot of television were likely to go on to manifest antisocial behaviour and personality traits.”
The research analysed a group consisting 1000 individuals born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1972-73. The participants were asked about their television viewing habits once when they were five-year old and once at the age of 15 years. Their TV viewing habits were monitored and it was found that children, who spent on an average a week night watching TV, had 30 percent higher risk of having a criminal conviction and becoming anti social. Besides, they had an increased tendency of going through negative emotions and feelings, developing antisocial personality disorder and aggressive personality traits in their adulthood.