Teens who spend too much time watching television or playing video games have a higher risk for depression as young adults. And the more media teens were exposed to, the higher the risk, especially among males.
A study by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and involved more than 4,100 teens who were not depressed when the survey began in 1995. They were asked how many hours they spent each day the previous week watching television, playing computer games or listening to the radio. (This was before the Internet was in wide use.) The teens reported an average media exposure of 5.68 hours each day. Seven years later, at an average age of 21.8, “Participants had significantly greater odds of developing depression for each hour of daily television views,” the authors wrote.
The odds of developing depression rose eight percent for each additional hour of television watched each day and five percent for overall electronic media.
Researchers aren’t sure exactly why watching television leads to depression, but study author Dr. Brian Primack said it could be linked to all the depressing events on television. “Television emphasizes bad news, and repeated exposure to it might be internalized,” he told HealthDay News.
TV commercials might also be at fault. “You see about 20,000 television advertisements a year, and a large proportion of them dwell on the fact that life is not perfect,” Primack said.
In addition television might be replacing other activities, such as social or athletic activities that protect against stress and depression, or television could cut down on the amount of sleep.
“It really does seem that television exposure is what occurs first and then depression is what occurs later,” said Dr. Primack. “This does not prove causality but it certainly suggests it.”
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