While most teenagers (60 percent) spend on average 20 hours per
week in front of television and computer screens, a third spend
closer to 40 hours per week, and about 7 percent are exposed to
more than 50 hours of ‘screen-time’ per week, according to a
study presented at the American Heart Association’s 48th Annual
Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and
Prevention. Researchers looked at patterns of screen-time
through high school, including total time viewing television,
video, computer and the Internet. Then they examined the
influence of neighborhood social factors on distinct patterns of
screen-time. “Boys and those whose parents had lower educational
attainment were much more likely to be in the ‘high-screen time’
group,” said Tracie A. Barnett, Ph.D., lead author of the study.
“Teens with high levels of screen time may be at increased risk
of obesity.” They analyzed 1,293 seventh grade students from 10
Montreal high schools. The students in the study had completed
in-class questionnaires f