Parental TV viewing, parental self-efficacy, media equipment and TV viewing among preschool children

This study examined if parental TV viewing, parental self-efficacy or access to media equipment were associated with TV viewing among UK preschool-aged children. Data were derived from a cross-sectional survey of 252 parents of 3–5-year-old children. Parents reported child and parent TV viewing and the number of TVs, DVDs, computers, games consoles, hand-held games consoles, music players and laptop computers in the home. Parents also completed scales which assessed their self-efficacy to limit the screen viewing (SV) and promote the physical activity (PA) and their own PA self-efficacy. Analysis indicated that around two thirds of the children spent two or more hours per day watching TV while 75 % of parents watched ≥2 h of TV per day. Logistic regression models showed that children who had a parent who watched ≥2 h of TV per day were over five times more likely to also watch ≥2 h of TV per day. Each unit increase in parental self-efficacy to limit SV was associated with a 77 % reduction in the likelihood that the child watched ≥2 h of TV per day. Each additional piece of media equipment in the home was associated with a 28 % increase in the likelihood that parents watched ≥2 h of TV per day. Conclusion: Family-based interventions focusing on changing access to home media equipment and building parental self-efficacy to reduce child TV viewing could form part of efforts to reduce TV viewing among preschool children.