Children, Television Viewing, and Weight Status: Summary and Recommendations from an Expert Panel Meeting

• Published date: 01 January 2008
• Author: Amy B. Jordan,Thomas N. Robinson
• Date: 01 January 2008
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716207308681
• Subject Matter: Articles

ANNALS, AAPSS, 615, January 2008 119

Overweight and obesity among American children has

reached epidemic proportions. More than 9 million

youth between the ages of six and nineteen years are

considered overweight, and more than 80 percent of

overweight adolescents will go on to become obese

adults. Research has indicated a wide range of factors

believed to contribute to obesity among children, but of

growing concern is the potential contribution made by

children’s media use. In April 2006, an expert panel

meeting was convened to meet and address children,

television viewing, and weight status. This article

reviews the evidence discussed at this meeting about

the role that media, specifically television, play in the

prevalence of overweight among children. It lays out

the panel member’s conclusions about the most

promising strategies for reducing the negative effects of

television on children’s weight status and makes recom-

mendations for future research that is needed to fully

understand the relationship.

Keywords: television; mass media; childhood over-

weight; childhood obesity

Although much has been written over the

decades about the possible deleterious

effects of television viewing on children’s imag-

ination, academic performance, and aggressive

behavior, researchers in the social and medical

sciences and public health fields have only

recently begun to explore the physical conse-

quences of children’s television viewing. In April

Children,

Television

Viewing, and

Weight Status:

Summary and

Recommendations

from an Expert

Panel Meeting

By

AMY B. JORDAN

and

THOMAS N. ROBINSON Amy B. Jordan, PhD, is director of the Media and the

Developing Mind sector of the Annenberg Public Policy

Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

Thomas N. Robinson, MD, MPH, is an associate profes-

sor of pediatrics and medicine in the division of General

Pediatrics and the Stanford Prevention Research

Center at Stanford University School of Medicine and

director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Lucile

Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.

NOTE: Drs. Jordan and Robinson served as cochairs of

the Expert Panel on Children, Television Viewing and

Weight Status. The findings and conclusions in this arti-

cle are those of the authors and do not necessarily rep-

resent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

DOI: 10.1177/0002716207308681