HABIT OF TELEVISION VIEWING AND ITS IMPACT ON WEIGHT STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN

Background: Television viewing whether boon or bane, is an ongoing controversy. Today, it is an important area of research; however studies in this aspect are limited. To fill up the lacunae in this regard, the study was undertaken to assess the television viewing habit and its impact on weight status and behavior among school children Methods and Material: Hundred (100) children, both male and female between the age groups of 10 and 14 years were selected from Chennai school by purposive sampling technique. Information was collected by pre structured self administered questionnaire. The data obtained was subjected for analysis by using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Results: Out of 100 children 50 were Male and 50 were Female. 24% of children had good habit of TV viewing in contrast with 76% of children who showed moderately good habit, none of them exhibited poor habit of TV Viewing. Majority of the children (62%) were underweight where as 23% were overweight. TV viewing showed an impact on certain aspects of behaviour such as eating (46%), physical activity (43%), Study habit (25%), emotion (43 %), sleeping (40%), and overall (39%) . Conclusions: TV viewing had direct role in the behavioral change of the children. It had significant effect on sleep habits, school performance and weight status.