title: Life without TV? cultivation theory and psychosocial health characteristics of television-free individuals and their television-viewing counterparts.
abstract: Much attention has been paid to the amount of time Americans spend watching television. Cultivation theory has been important in exploring behavioral effects of television viewing for many years. However, psychosocial health has received much less scrutiny in relation to television viewing time. This investigation examined the hypotheses that television-free individuals and viewers adhering to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations (up to 2 hr of viewing per day) would display a more positive psychosocial health profile when compared with more frequent television viewers. Results confirmed the hypothesis for women, but not for men. Our analysis showed that moderate television viewing, as defined by the AAP, provides a similar relation with psychosocial health as being television-free. Results are discussed in a cultivation theory framework.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, Health, & Recreation, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA 99004, USA. jhammermeist@ewu.edu
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hammermeister
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Winterstein
authors.forename: Randy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Page
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D012928:Social Desirability; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television; D013997:Time Factors