ABSTRACT
AFTER years of research on the effects of television, we have learned that watching television is related to a number of undesirable outcomes among children. Among other things, children who watch more television are at risk for becoming more aggressive (Paik & Comstock, 1994), learning stereotypes (McGhee & Frueh, 1980; Morgan, 1982), experiencing fright reactions (Cantor, 1994), and developing cultivation-like attitudes (Ridley-Johnson, Chance, & Cooper, 1984). On the other hand, television can also have a positive effect on children (e.g., learning of educational content, promoting prosocial behaviors), especially when adults are present to facilitate the development of these outcomes (Corder-Bolz, 1980; Eron & Huesmann, 1984; Friedrich & Stein, 1975; Rushton, 1982). Television, then, is not inherently bad or good for children-its potential is shaped, in part, by how the children view the material. Parents play a vital role in shaping how their children watch television (Bryce & Leichter, 1983). For decades, researchers from various fields (including communication, psychology, and education) have been interested in the potential for parents to intervene in or “mediate” children’s television viewing. Some researchers have explored how parents or other adults can facilitate prosocial effects from watching television whereas others have focused on developing methods for reducing children’s vulnerability to experiencing antisocial effects. As a result, research on “mediation” has been accumulating over the past 30 years. This body of work is important because it contains an
answer to a question that plagues both researchers and the public: How can we cope with the unavoidable presence of television in children’s lives?
