Teens, Television and Depression
American researchers have found out that if teenagers watch TV too much they are more likely to develop depression when they get older.
The researchers studied the relationship between the media and depression. They based their findings on over 4,000 teenagers who were not depressed when the survey began in 1995.
Young people were asked how many hours of TV they watched every day. They were also asked if they played computer games and listened to the radio.
All in all, young adults spent a total of five and a half hours in front of some kind of media every day. More than two hours went to watching television.
Seven years later more than 70% of the people who took part in the survey showed signs of depression. At that time they were about 21. The study also found out that young men were more likely to become depressed than women.
One researcher mentions that, although there is no hard proof that watching TV causes depression, it may take more time away from activities that prevent depression, like sports. It may also cause you to sleep less.
Another result of the survey was that people who watch less TV find themselves generally happier than others. People are happiest when they are socially active, can read or play games.
Related Topics
Words
- although = while
- cause = lead to
- develop = grow
- likely = probably, expected to be
- media = newspapers, TV, radio, Internet
- mention = talk about, point out, say
- prevent = to stop something from happening
- proof = evidence; facts and information that proves that something is true
- relationship = connection
- researcher = a person who studies a topic for a longer time in order to find out more about it
- sign = symptom, signal
- survey = a set of questions that you ask people in order to find out what they think and how they act