Bedroom TV and Hispanic Children

Research conducted by: Du Feng, Debra B. Reed, M. Christina Esperat, and Mitsue Uchida

Case study prepared by: Robert F. Houser, Alyssa Koomas, and Georgette Baghdady

Overview
The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children in the U.S. is a growing public health concern that disproportionately affects Hispanic youth.  As noted by the authors, in 2005 to 2006, 15.5% of all U.S. children aged 2 to 19 years were overweight or obese, compared with 23.2% for boys and 18.5% for girls among Mexican-Americans in this age group.  Past research has revealed diverse environmental and behavioral factors that may contribute to this disparity.  For example, studies have shown that Hispanic children watch more television than white children.

This study examined TV viewing among 314 Hispanic children aged 5 to 9 years in West Texas and the possible effects of having a TV in the child’s bedroom.  Children’s weights and heights were measured, body mass indexes (BMI) calculated, and sex- and age-adjusted BMI percentiles obtained.  The 2000 CDC Growth Charts were used to assess whether or not a child was overweight or at risk for becoming overweight.  Their parents completed a family survey assessing demographics, acculturation, parental support of physical activity, dietary practices, the presence of a TV in the participating child’s bedroom, and the child’s TV/DVD viewing time.

Questions to Answer
Do children with a TV in their bedroom spend more time watching TV/DVDs on a daily basis than children without a TV in their bedroom?  Do children with a TV in their bedroom have less support from their parents for physical activity than children without a TV in their bedroom?  What might account for missing responses to survey questions?

Design Issues
Except for BMI, the data for all of the study variables were “self-reported” by the parents.  The study used a cross-sectional design, which cannot be relied upon to provide conclusive evidence of causal relationships.

Descriptions of Variables
VARIABLE DESCRIPTION
TVIB, No TVIB Presence or absence of a TV in the participating child’s bedroom
Daily TV/DVD time Average number of hours the child spent watching TV and DVDs per day
Parental support of physical activity   Scale score calculated as the average of parent’s responses to 8 survey items assessing the parent’s support of physical activity for the child.  Items rated on 4-point Likert scale (0 = never, 3 = always).  Research has shown a significant positive relationship between parental support of physical activity and children’s physical activity level  
Daily fruit and vegetable intake Average number of cups of fruits and vegetables (fresh, frozen, dried, canned, and 100% juice) consumed by the child per day  
Daily sweetened beverages Average number of ounces of soda, fruit drink, sports drink, tea, and lemonade consumed by the child per day  
 

References

Feng, D., Reed, D. B., Esperat, M. C., Uchida, M. (2011). Effects of TV in the bedroom on young Hispanic children. American Journal of Health Promotion, 25, 310-318.

 
Links

New York Times article
Television and Children information guide


Exercises

Please read the original publication before performing the exercises.

  1. What percentage of children in the study had a TV in their bedroom?

  2. Examine the numbers in Table 2, “Characteristics of the Participating Parent,” to determine whether or not all of the characteristics were based on the total N of 314, as the heading of the table suggests.
    1. For each characteristic (except parent/guardian age), calculate the sample size used to derive the percentages of the response categories shown in the table.
    2. What is the range of sample sizes among the characteristics?  How many characteristics were based on the total N of 314?
    3. Which characteristic in the table was based on the smallest sample size?  Why might this characteristic have the smallest overall sample size?
    4. What are some of the possible reasons why the characteristics variables in Table 2 have missing values?

  3. In Table 3, parental support of physical activity correlates with daily fruit and vegetable intake and does not correlate with daily sweetened beverages intake.  What do these correlations mean and what might explain these results?

  4. Perform independent samples t tests comparing children with a TV in their bedroom and children without a TV in their bedroom for the variables in the two tables below.  (The means and standard deviations come from Table 4; however, the group sample sizes used in the t tests are our estimates since the authors did not state them in Table 4.)  Fill in the t and p values that you obtain.

    1. Variable TVIB
      mean (SD)
      n = 223      		 No TVIB
      mean (SD)
      n = 62      		 t value p value
      Daily TV/DVD time   3.51 (2.21) 2.58 (1.69)    

      What do you conclude about the average daily hours spent watching TV/DVDs between children with a TV in their bedroom and children without a TV in their bedroom?


    2. Variable TVIB
      mean (SD)
      n = 202      		 No TVIB
      mean (SD)
      n = 75      		 t value p value
      Parental support of physical activity   1.40 (0.56) 1.55 (0.42)    
      Note that the estimated sample sizes for TVIB and No TVIB are different from those used in Exercise 4a.

      What do you conclude about parental support of physical activity between the two groups?  What characteristics of parents might contribute to a possible causal relationship between parental support of physical activity and whether or not a TV is present in a child’s bedroom?