tailieunhanh - PRESCHOOL TELEVISION VIEWING AND ADOLESCENT TEST SCORES: HISTORICAL EVIDENCE FROM THE COLEMAN STUDY

We use heterogeneity in the timing of television’s introduction to different local markets to identify the effect of preschool television exposure on standardized test scores during adolescence. Our preferred point estimate indicates that an additional year of preschool television exposure raises average adolescent test scores by about standard deviations. We are able to reject negative effects larger than about standard deviations per year of television exposure. For reading and general knowledge scores, the positive effects we find are marginally statistically significant, and these effects are largest for children from households where English is not the primary language, for children whose mothers have less than a high school. | PRESCHOOL TELEVISION VIEWING AND ADOLESCENT TEST SCORES HISTORICAL EVIDENCE FROM THE COLEMAN STUDY Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse M. Shapiro We use heterogeneity in the timing of television s introduction to different local markets to identify the effect of preschool television exposure on standardized test scores during adolescence. Our preferred point estimate indicates that an additional year of preschool television exposure raises average adolescent test scores by about standard deviations. We are able to reject negative effects larger than about standard deviations per year of television exposure. For reading and general knowledge scores the positive effects we find are marginally statistically significant and these effects are largest for children from households where English is not the primary language for children whose mothers have less than a high school education and for nonwhite children. I. Introduction Television has attracted young viewers since broadcasting began in the 1940s. Concerns about its effects on the cognitive development of young children emerged almost immediately and have been fueled by academic research showing a negative association between early-childhood television viewing and later academic These findings have contributed to a belief among the vast majority of pediatricians that television has negative effects on brain development of children below age five Gentile et al. 2004 . They have also provided partial motivation for recent recommendations that preschool children s television viewing time be severely restricted American Academy of Pediatrics 2001 . According to a widely cited report on media use by young We are grateful to Dominic Brewer John Collins Ronald Ehrenberg Eric Hanushek and Mary Morris at ICPSR for assistance with Coleman study data and to Christopher Berry for supplying data on school quality. Lisa Furchtgott Jennifer Paniza and Mike Sinkinson provided outstanding research assistance. We .