Identifying and Evaluating for Key “High Quality” Executive Function-Promoting Traits in Children’s Television Shows

Project Overview

Children’s television shows have become popular education and entertainment tools for impressionable children, bringing to question their effects on executive function development - a potential contributing factor to risk of developing mental health issues. This research involved reviewing past literature addressing television’s effects on executive function development, allowing me to identify specific mediating and moderating factors on this effect. Mediators identified include aspects of the television content being viewed, such as genre, intended audience, animated vs. live programming, pacing, degree of fantasy, frequency of violence, frequency of prosocial behaviors, and interactivity. Moderators include contextual factors such as the child's age and cumulative risk, degree of parental involvement and control in the child's life and television viewing, and whether television is viewed in the foreground or background. Based on these factors, popular children’s shows today were evaluated and ranked; the findings are presented on this website which is designed for parents looking for a science-based guide in choosing appropriate media exposure for their children.