Children’s television viewing and ADHD-related Behaviors: Evidence from the Netherlands

Abstract

This study examined how ADHD-related behaviors are associated with children’s overall amount of television viewing, specific content viewing (i.e. violent/scary and educational), and attention and arousal responses when viewing television. Additionally, it explored the moderating role of children’s sex in these relationships. To address these aims, parents of 865 Dutch children (3–7 years) completed a survey measuring ADHD-related behaviors and kept four-day television diaries. We found that ADHD-related behaviors were not associated with overall viewing nor with violent/scary content viewing. These relationships, however, were moderated by sex. Further analyses of these moderations revealed a positive trend between ADHD-related behaviors and overall and violent/scary content viewing for boys only. ADHD-related behaviors were not related to educational content viewing. Furthermore, ADHD-related behaviors were related to more arousal when viewing television, regardless of content, and less attention to overall and educational television. We did not find sex differences in arousal and attention responses.