ABSTRACT
More than 10 million children watch television between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., the “family hour,” which is the least diverse time of all prime-time programming (Children Now, 2001b). That means that children see a more homogenous world than adults who watch later in the evening. This is a concern because television can play a significant role in children’s growing beliefs and attitudes about others in the world and their own role in that world. They may be more likely to develop inaccurate and unrealistic ideas about other ethnic and racial groups, gender characteristics and roles, occupational choices, and the elderly, or to perpetuate stereotypes about those groups.
