An analysis of children's programming released by the Parents' Television Council (PTC) reports that shows aimed at five- to ten-year-olds involve even higher levels of violence and other mature content than many prime-time programs.
Examining almost 450 hours of non-educational after-school and Saturday morning programming from broadcast and basic cable stations, the analysis tallied almost 3,500 incidents of violence, or 7.86 instances per hour. When "cartoony" instances were excluded to leave only realistic depictions of violence, more than 2,700 incidents (6.3 per hour) remained.
The analysis also noted high levels of verbal aggression, disruptive or disrespectful behavior, sexual content and offensive language.
Mental health professionals note that viewing such programming may be disturbing, particularly to younger children who still have problems distinguishing fantasy and reality. Research has also showed that viewing programs with high levels of sexual content may trigger "a striking advancement in sexual behavior" in young adolescents.
Read more: Year In Review: PTC's Study Finds Children's TV Content Disturbingly 'Mature'
FULL-TEXT: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: A Content Analysis of Children's Television (PDF)
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