Childhood exposure to TV linked to bullying April 17, 2005 In an
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine report, economist
Frederick J. Zimmerman Ph.D. and colleagues at the University of
Washington, in Seattle, found there is a statistically
significant relationship between bullying behavior by
adolescents and the amount of TV they watched. While previous
studies linking the phenomenon have been done before, this study
used data from a US national longitudinal survey involving 1,266
four-year-olds, to provide what authors describe as "empirical
support to theories that suggest that bullying might arise out
of cognitive deficits as well as emotional ones," according to
NewsWise. Of mothers who reported their children displaying
bullying behavior, the study found that those watching 3.5 hours
of TV a day were 25% more likely to bully, while those watching
8 hours or more were 200% more likely. The report based its
findings on statistics of TV watching by children at age 4, and
then compared that history t