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Television Presents Children with Numerous Options When It Comes to Their Diet

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Television Presents Children with Numerous Options When It Comes to Their Diet Journal of the Northwest Communication Association Influence of Parental Control of Television Viewing on Children’s Attitudes and Behaviors of Food Annie M . Ochsenhirt Palo Alto, California Sei-Hill Kim Auburn University Speculation abounds concerning the relationship of watching television and dietary habits among school children, and researchers have found sparse evidence to draw direct linkages between viewing television and poor eating habits. This study attempts to fill some gaps in the research by examining how parental controls, family rules and attention to commercials influence poor eating and misconceptions about healthy foods among children. After surveying 247 children from ages 10 to 14, the researchers found that amount of TV viewing was associated with unhealthy food choices. While much has been written about the efficacy of family rules that restrict viewing, the researchers found that parental controls about TV were only marginally influential on children’s food attitudes and behaviors. KEY TERMS : ADVERTISING , MEDIA EFFECTS , NUTRITION , TELEVISION Television presents children with numerous options when it comes to their diet. The food industry spends an estimated $33 billion each year Annie M. Ochsenhirt is a graduate of Communication Studies at Saint Mary’s College. She is currently in visual merchandising and sales at Anthropologie, a division of Urban Outfitters, Inc., in Palo Alto, California. The paper is an extension of her comprehensive research conducted under the supervision of Professor Kim. Sei-Hill Kim (Ph.D., Cornell University) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Auburn University. Professor Kim’s research interests are in political communication, public health and public relations. He can be reached at: kimseih@ auburn.edu. 10 Influence of Parental Control of Television Viewing… on advertising and promotion, targeting children with snacks and meals (Raeburn, Forster, Foust & Brady, 2002). The popularity of television advertising has coincided with a large increase in child obesity in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion (2003), the proportion of overweight children and adolescents has risen from about 5% to 15% over the last three decades. Watching television can be related to weight gain for a number of rea- sons (see Jenvey, 2007, for an overview). First, time spent with television displaces physical activity and thus reduces energy expenditure (Robin- son, Hammer & Killen, 1993). Second, children snack frequently while watching television; and the snacks they consume are high in fat, salt and sugar (Vessey, Yim-Chiplis & MacKenzie, 1998). Third, television viewing may reduce children’s metabolic rates, even more than sleeping does, contributing to weight gain (Klesges, Shelton & Klesges, 1993). We argue that television viewing promotes unhealthy food choices. Much of television programming targeting children contains a large number of food commercials, most of which promote such unhealthy options as soda, candy and junk snacks (Kotz & Story, 1994). These commercial mes- sages influence children to make unhealthy food choices (see, for example, Gorn & Goldberg, 1982; Taras, Zive, Nader, Berry, Hoy, & Boyd, 2000). Television viewing therefore encourages children to request and consume the foods advertised, promoting unhealthy eating habits (Boynton-Jarrett, Thomas, Peterson, Wiecha, Sobol, & Gortmaker, 2003). If television is a contributing factor, parents may be able to reduce children’s unhealthy eating by restricting their television viewing. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2003) has advocated restricting tele- vision viewing as an important strategy to curb unhealthy eating habits. Ballen and Moles (1994) also found that the majority (76%) of parents in their study would like to restrict children’s television viewing. Little research effort, however, has been made to examine whether restricting television viewing is related to unhealthy eating. 11 Journal of the Northwest Communication Association This study looks at the influence of parental controls and family rules about television on children’s food consumption. We first explore mecha- nisms through which television may promote unhealthy food choices. We then discuss how parental control, children’s television viewing and unhealthy eating are linked to one another. Using a survey of fifth through seventh graders, we assess the extent to which parental control of televi- sion viewing might curb unhealthy eating. Literature Review Effects of Television Viewing on Unhealthy Eating. How does television viewing promote unhealthy eating? Researchers have targeted food commercials on television as being responsible, at least in part, for producing such a negative effect (e.g., Boynton-Jarrett et al., 2003; Taras, Sallis, Patterson, Nader & Nelson, 1989). Children are exposed to about 40,000 commercials a year (Kunkel, 2001) and about a half of them are for food (Taras & Gage, 1995). More importantly, the majority of foods advertised on television are fatty, salty, sweet and low in fiber, whereas references to fruits and dairy products are marginal (Byrd-Bredbenner & Grasso, 1999; Kotz & Story, 1994). In order to be fully persuasive, advertisers use a number of appeals particularly designed to attract children. Macklin and Carlson (1999) argued that the very structure of television commercials matches the cognitive abilities of young children. The use of simplicity, attention- grabbing graphics and repetition are all implemented to entice young viewers. Most commercials do not use nutrition as a claim, but instead employ other convincing appeals including humor, happiness, novelty, cheerful music and a free toy (Barcus, 1977; Kunkel & Ganz, 1992; Macklin & Carlson, 1999). Advertisers often use cartoon characters to sell their products. Commercials that portray popular characters eating or drinking a product may entice children to imitate the behavior by purchasing and consuming the same product (Fischer, Schwartz, Richards, Goldstein & 12 Influence of Parental Control of Television Viewing… Rojas, 1991). As social learning theory predicts, food commercials can play an important role in forming children’s eating behavior particularly when the behavior is followed by rewarding consequences, such as a prize, a delicious flavor or happiness (Bandura & Walters, 1963). Is viewing food commercials indeed linked to unhealthy food choices? Taras, Zive, Nader, Berry, Hoy and Boyd (2000) reported that there was a significant correlation between the frequency of foods advertised on televi- sion and the number of times they were requested by children. From a study of households with children aged between 2 and 6, Bolton (1983) found that exposure to food advertising was associated with a small but statistically significant increase in food snacking and caloric intake. In an experimental setting, Gorn and Goldberg (1982) demonstrated that repeated exposure to food commercials affected children’s beverage and snack choices. If commercials influence food choices, it is reasonable to assume that television viewing leads to unhealthy eating, given the prevalence of unhealthy foods advertised on television. Studies provided considerable support for the link between television viewing and unhealthy eating, a possible consequence of exposure to food commercials. Taras, Sallis, Pat- terson, Nader and Nelson (1989) found that weekly television viewing was significantly associated with children’s caloric intake and their request for specific foods advertised on television. In a recent study, Boynton- Jarrett et al. (2003) found that television viewing was linked to decreased consumption of fruits and vegetables among adolescents. Children who watch more television are necessarily exposed to a larger number of food commercials. The amount of television viewing (e.g., daily viewing hours), therefore, can be an approximate measure of exposure to food commercials. Nevertheless, a large amount of television viewing does not necessarily mean paying close attention to commercials. In addition to testing the effect of overall television viewing (daily viewing hours), our study employs a direct measure of attention to food commercials and examines its relationship to unhealthy eating. 13 Journal of the Northwest Communication Association Effects of Television Viewing on Misconceptions about Food. Television viewing not only promotes unhealthy eating, but also may contribute to misconceptions about nutrition (e.g., Signorielli & Lears, 1992; Signorielli & Staples, 1997). That is, children who watch more television are more likely to develop inaccurate food conceptions. Food commercials on television are responsible, at least in part, for inac- curate nutritional knowledge. Many food commercials contain misleading messages about the nutritional value of their products (Boynton-Jarrett et al., 2003). According to Kotz and Story (1994), about 49% of food commercials present implicit messages that their foods are either healthy or nutritious. Barcus (1977) reported that more than 90% of cereal adver- tisements claimed their products were part of “balanced” or “complete” breakfast. Through advertisements, children are constantly assured that eating the promoted products is a good idea, even though it is known that over half the products advertised on television are unhealthy (Signorielli, 1990). Adler (1978) reported that more than three-quarters of children in his study called sweets,
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