Viewing behavior of children and TV guidance by parents: A comparison of parent and child reports.

In this study parents as well as their children (N = 224) were surveyed about children's television viewing behavior and television guidance provided by parents. It was investigated whether parents know how much time their child spends in front of the television and which programs the child watches. Parents' estimate of their children's viewing time was consistently lower than the estimate made by the children themselves. Parents showed to know about half of the programs the child reported to watch at home. In regard to television guidance, mothers as well as fathers reported to provide TV guidance more frequently than children reported to receive. Parents' tendency to report a greater incidence of guidance than their children applied to all three measured types of TV guidance: restrictive guidance, instructive guidance, and social co-viewing. Mothers, fathers as well as children reported that social co-viewing was practiced most often and restrictive guidance the least