Longitudinal effects of television on children's leisure-time reading. A test of three explanatory models

Using a sample of 1,050 Dutch elementary schoolchildren who were in Grades 2 and 4 at the outset of the research, this study investigated (a) the longitudinal effects of television viewing on the frequency with which children read books and comic books at home, and (b) the causal mechanisms that underlie television's effects on leisure-time reading. The children were surveyed three times, at 1-year intervals. Structural equations analysis suggested that television viewing reduced children's comic book reading only in the period from Year 2 to Year 3. Book reading, however, was found to be reduced by television viewing over both measurement periods. The data suggest that two causal mechanisms underlie television's reductive effect on children's book reading: (a) a television-induced deterioration of attitudes toward book reading, and (b) a television-induced deterioration of children's ability to concentrate on reading.