A recent study by a UNO criminology professor found that TV viewing does not cause social problems.
Assistant professor of criminology Joseph Schwartz partnered with a Florida State University researcher to study an association that’s been identified several times before.
Schwartz says previous studies have indicated that the more TV a child or adolescent watches, the more likely they are to be incarcerated as an adult.
The study used separate analytical models that investigated the role of biology.
Schwartz says when genetic influences were taken into account, the link between TV viewing habits and contact with the criminal justice system essentially disappeared.
"What that means is that children who watch more TV is that that particular trait is influenced by genes to some degree and coming into contact with the criminal justice system is also influenced by genes. We can conclude that maybe kids who watch more TV are already the same children that would be more likely to come into contact with the criminal justice system anyway, regardless of the amount of TV that they watch.”
Researchers used a collection of data that included more than 90,000 K-12 students who were surveyed four times between 1994 and 2008.
The results will be published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence sometime in the next few months.