A problem for most parents.
A boy watches TV (Photo: ShutterStock)
Many parents are very concerned about their children's screen time, and probably rightly so.
A new study by a team of researchers from New Zealand found that watching too much television in childhood increases the risk of smoking and gambling addiction in the future.
The findings, published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, could influence public health policy and professional recommendations for limiting children's screen time, researchers say.
"People often talk about watching television as an addiction, this study suggests that for some people, watching television may be an early manifestation of an addictive disorder or may lead to later substance-related disorders and other addictive disorders," says Helena McNally, a research assistant at the University of Otago and one of the authors the study.
The team reached its conclusions after evaluating data from a study of children born between 1972 and 1973.
The study recorded weekday television viewing time collected when the children were 5 to 15 years old. Their goal was to assess a potential relationship with childhood television viewing to the risk of substance use disorder or gambling addiction in adulthood.
The findings showed that people who watched excessive television were more likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for substance and gambling disorders.
This was taking into account other factors such as the gender of the child, socioeconomic factors and childhood self-control test results.
Along with smoking and gambling, the study's findings showed a strong link between watching too much television in adolescence and a higher risk of alcohol and marijuana disorders.
And for the numbers: the results showed that those who watched more than two hours of television in the evening during each day of the week, from the age of five to 15 years, had a 29 percent higher risk of a gambling problem in their adulthood than those who spent less time glued to the screens.
They were also 20 percent more likely to become addicted to tobacco products and had a higher risk of alcohol or cannabis use disorder than those who spent less time in front of screens.
Watching the screen may increase the risk of various addictions in the future.
A sad boy (Photo: ShutterStock)
Previous studies show that spending too much time with eyes glued to a TV screen can lead to poor health and well-being in adults.
But according to the authors of the study, this is the first time that a connection has been made between television viewing and behavior that may lead to addiction later in life.
According to the researchers, "the previous recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics for an average daily limit of
up to
two hours of screen time may remain a reasonable guide for screen time during leisure time in children and adolescents."
It is important to note that at younger ages (from 3 to 15) the recommendation is between an hour and an hour and a half a day.
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