Ethnic background and children’s television viewing trajectories

This study, conducted in the Netherlands, evaluated the association between ethnic background and children’s TV viewing time at multiple time points and its trajectory. We analyzed 4,833 children with a Dutch, Moroccan, Turkish, or Surinamese ethnic background from the Generation R Study, a population-based study in the Netherlands. Parent-reported television viewing time for children at ages 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9 years was collected by questionnaires sent from April 2004 until January 2015. Odds ratios of watching television 1 hour/day at each age were calculated for children from the various ethnic backgrounds. Generalized logistic mixed models (GLMMs) were used to assess the association between ethnic background and television viewing time trajectory. The effect modification by family socioeconomic status was examined in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The percentage of children viewing television 1 hour/day increased from age 2 to 9 years for children from all ethnic backgrounds. After adjusting for maternal educational level and net household income, children from all ethnic subgroups had greater odds of watching television 1 hour/ day at some time points compared with children with a Dutch background (Surinamese: all ages; Moroccan: at ages 4 and 6 years; Turkish: at ages 4 and 9 years). The GLMMs indicated that television viewing trajectories differed between ethnic subgroups. The associations between ethnic background and children’s television viewing time were moderated by maternal educational level for child ages 4 and 6 years (p < 0.05). In longitudinal analyses, the ethnic differences in probability of watching television 1 hour/day were larger in children from high-educated mothers than in children from low-educated mothers. In conclusion, ethnic differences in television viewing time were present at all measuring time points. The discrepancy between children with a Dutch background and children with another background was larger in high maternal educational subgroups.

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