CHILDREN, TELEVISION AND FAMILY ENVIRONME NT

It is well known that uncontrolled children's television viewing is po tentially harmful. It's associated with violent behavior, obesity, hyp ercholesterolemia, early sexual activity, drug and alcohol use and abu se. Nevertheless there are few informations about the characteristics of the family environment where TV abuse id found. We therefore studie d children's viewing habits and parental perception about television i nfluence on their children. A questionaire was administered to the par ents of 356 children aged between 4 and 10 years living in a definit a rea (Cadoneghe). Already pre-school children watched improper programs ; 57% violent cartoons, 34% movies for adults. Only 49% of parents int ervened regularly to limit viewing time, 48% to choose programs; frequ ent program content discussion with children was reported by 37% of pa rents. A group of parents (20-40%) was found unaware of the possible h armful impact of TV on children. This fact is partially correlated wit h low parental education level and high TV viewing by their children.