In the Fall of 2007 Dr. Richard Chalfen, CMCH Senior Scientist working with VIA, will be a visiting fellow at the Economic and Social Research Council in England.
His fellowship is titled
“Advancing Visual Methodology in Social Science” and he will be working with the Real Life Methods research program.
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A new study shows that one fifth of children under age 2 have TV sets in their bedrooms. “In addition to the youngest group, 43% of 3- to 4-year-olds have TVs in their rooms, potentially setting up an unhealthy habit, the authors wrote.”

“Previous studies have found that bedroom TVs are linked with childhood obesity, inactivity and low scores on reading and math tests.”

“If they’re spending an hour in front of the TV, that’s an hour that they’re not playing with blocks or playing with Mom,”
said Dr. Michael Rich, Director of CMCH.

“Researchers found that a fifth of U.S. children from 6 months through 2 years old and more than a third of kids 3 to 6 years old have televisions in their bedrooms.”

“They’re not doing other things that should be going on in the bedroom -— reading books, socializing with family,
settling down for bedtime, pulling out the stuffed animals,” says Dr. Michael Rich, Director of CMCH.
“Kids with televisions in their rooms also log more time in
front of the tube — and pack on the pounds”, says Rich. “The more TV you watch, the heavier you are.”

Director of CMCH, Dr. Michael Rich
, visited Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, AL to speak to health professionals about his work on media and child health.

“We have an issue here that has historically been dealt with or ignored as an issue of values, and we now have a large and growing body
of scientific evidence that indicates that this is a public health issue. There is just too strong of an association between
media use and obesity, aggressive behavior, substance use, risky sexual behavior, and body image disorder to ignore it.”