Abstract of

Television's Impact on Children's Reading Comprehension and Decoding Skills: A 3-Year Panel Study

Cees M. Koolstra

Tom H.A. van der Voort

Leo J.Th. van der Kamp

Using a sample of 1,050 Dutch elementary school children who were in Grades 2 and 4 at the outset of the research, this study explored (a) the longitudinal effects of television viewing on children's reading comprehension, (b) the causal mechanisms that underlie television's longitudinal effects on reading comprehension, and (c) the longitudinal effects of television viewing on children's decoding skills. The children were surveyed three times, at 1-year intervals. Structural equations analyses suggested that television viewing inhibited the development of children's reading comprehension in both 1-year intervals of the study. Television's inhibitory effect on reading comprehension was not sensitive to children's IQ and socioeconomic status, but did depend on types of programs watched. Partial support was found for two causal mechanisms underlying television's inhibitory effect on reading comprehension: (a) a television-induced reduction in leisure-time book reading and (b) a television-induced depreciation of reading. Watching subtitled foreign television programs was found to stimulate the development of decoding skills.

Abstract from Koolstra, C.M., van der Voort, T.H.A., & van der Kamp, L.J.Th. (1997). Television's Impact on Children's Reading Comprehension and Decoding Skills: A 3-Year Panel Study. Reading Research Quarterly, 32(2), 128–152. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.32.2.1