[TV and video watching among 11-15-year old children--a sociomedical perspective]

A material of 1,671 schoolchildren replied to a questionnaire about health, time spent watching television, the demographic and social situation, social network, and life satisfaction. These pupils spend two hours daily watching television and one tenth of this time is spent on video programmes. 48% of the children spend 0-10 hours weekly watching television, 35% 11-27 hours, 15% 28-37 hours and 3% more than 37 hours. Boys spend more time watching television than girls, younger pupils more than older and children from lower social classes more than children from higher social classes. The time spent watching television increases with increasing degree of urbanisation. Children who spend many hours watching television have more problems in life satisfaction, health and social network compared with children who spend a few hours watching television.