Parental influences on television watching among children living on the Texas-Mexico border.

PURPOSE

We examined the association of parental television (TV) rules and compliance with the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) recommendations of <or=2 h of television per day in a primarily Hispanic sample of elementary school children (n=734) living on the U.S. side of the Texas-Mexico border. The potential modifying effects of children's home environment (parental TV watching, parent at home after school, and TV in bedroom) were also examined.

METHODS

A cross-sectional analysis was performed on baseline survey data merged from two waves (2006 and 2007) of a CDC-funded TV reduction intervention with 4th grade children (mean age: 9.5 years). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine associations.

RESULTS

Children who had TV rules were 1.4 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.94) and 1.7 (95% CI: 1.22, 2.32) times more likely to meet the AAP recommendation for weekend and weekday TV watching, respectively. Parental TV watching and TV in bedroom modified the effect of TV rules on children's TV watching, with null associations found for children whose parents watch TV frequently and for children with no TV in bedroom. No interaction effect was found for children's afterschool context.

CONCLUSIONS

Parental TV limits is one strategy for reducing children's television watching that merits further investigation.