The researchers continued collecting information from the parents and interviewed the teens again at age 16, and again at ages 22 and 33.

At age 14, most of the children watched between one and three hours of television each day, while 13% watched more than four hours, and 10% watched less than one hour. Their viewing habits remained nearly identical at ages 16 and 22.

Johnson’s team found that 30% of students who watched more than three hours of television at age 14 had attention problems in subsequent years. By comparison, only 15% of those who watched less than one hour of TV at age 14 showed the same attention deficits later on.

Nearly one-third of those who watched many hours of television fell behind or failed to graduate by age 22. By comparison, only 10% of the teens who watched less than an hour of TV a day went on to perform poorly in school or drop out.

Those who watched three hours or more hours of TV had an 82% greater chance of not graduating or falling behind compared with teens who watched less than an hour – even after controlling for other factors, such as the learning difficulties the teens had at age 14 and their socio-economical status.

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