Objective: To examine how the presence of background television affects the play behavior of young children, ages 1-3. Design: Experimental study, examining differences in play behavior with and without background television. Subjects and Setting: 50 children, ages 12-, 24-, and 36-months, identified via state births records andcontinued

Objective: To examine how the presence of background television affects the play behavior of young children, ages 1-3.

Design: Experimental study, examining differences in play behavior with and without background television.

Subjects and Setting: 50 children, ages 12-, 24-, and 36-months, identified via state births records and recruited by mail and telephone. Majority White (1 Black and 2 Hispanic). All participants were free of visual or hearing impairments. During experimental session, individual participants played for 1 hour in room furnished with toys. Television played an episode of Jeopardy during either the first or second half of the play period. Cameras recorded play behavior.

Intervention(s): N/A

Outcome Measure(s): Percent of session spent in play. Average length of play episode. Percent of play in which attention was focused. Average length of focused play. Average play maturity.

Results: When the television was on, children spent approximately 5% less time playing than when the television was off. The average length of play episodes decreased by 30 seconds when the television on. Background television did not significantly affect the percent of focused play but average length of focused play was 5 seconds less when the television was on.

Conclusion: In the presence of background television, young children tended to play less overall, their episodes of play and focused attention to play tended to be shorter. © Center on Media and Child Healthreturn