A study of the behavioral problems faced by the elementary school children watching television violence as rated by their mother

Basic learning for children comes from both, experience and social learning or role modelling. Therefore, when children, especially young children, see violence on television, they have a difficult time differentiating between what is real and what is make-believe, and tend to emulate or copy what they are seeing. Children seeing excessive violence on TV are more likely to be argumentative, as they have dispensed with the slow caution of inhibitors. These children who watch media violence in abundance have different approach to solve their issues, rather than using more peaceful methods of conflict resolution are more likely to use aggressive strategies. They tend to be more reactive rather than proactive, relying on more knee jerk reaction to solve frustration and finally they appear to be more fearful of social relationship, which make them bite before they can be bitten. The present study is an attempt to investigate the relation between watching violence on TV and the behavioural problems of the primary schools going children as rated by their mothers. The sample consists total 120 children of Delhi NCR and Himachal Pradesh. Along with the personal data sheet, the behavioural check list prepared by K.Aradhana and V.V. Bharathi, (2000) were used. The result showed that viewing violence on TV caused many problems related to emotions, health, fear, aggressiveness, restlessness and even decline in their academic performance. It also showed that greater the time children watched violence on TV, greater was the intensity of their problem.