Gender differences in pre‐adolescent reactance to age‐categorized television advisory labels

Use of age‐categorized television program ratings (TV‐Y, TV‐Y7, TV‐G, TV‐PG, TV‐14, and TV‐M) was assessed for 203 fourth and fifth graders from Missouri and California. Ability to distinguish between pairs of rating codes was low, and uses of codes for program selection and as part of parental viewing rules was also low. Girls reported significantly more parental viewing rules than boys and were significantly more likely to prefer age‐appropriate programs: a tainted‐fruit effect. Boys were more likely than girls to prefer age‐inappropriate programs: a forbidden fruit effect.