The effect of TV viewing on children’s obesity risk and mental well-being: Evidence from the UK digital switchover
(2021) In Journal of Health Economics 80.- Abstract
- We examine the effect of screen-based activities on obesity and mental well-being for children, using a large survey dataset representative of the UK population and an event study model that exploits exogenous variation in the entry date of the digital television transition in the UK. The digital transition increased the number of available free television channels from 5 to 40, leading to a rise in television viewing time. Our results show that receiving access to digital television signal considerably increases the mental health total difficulties score among children, and that this impact grows over time. We also find suggestive evidence that the digital transition could have increased BMI for children. Underlying the net effects appear... (More)
- We examine the effect of screen-based activities on obesity and mental well-being for children, using a large survey dataset representative of the UK population and an event study model that exploits exogenous variation in the entry date of the digital television transition in the UK. The digital transition increased the number of available free television channels from 5 to 40, leading to a rise in television viewing time. Our results show that receiving access to digital television signal considerably increases the mental health total difficulties score among children, and that this impact grows over time. We also find suggestive evidence that the digital transition could have increased BMI for children. Underlying the net effects appear to be decreases in participation in social and physical activities. (Less)
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c3da43fe-1aed-4ce2-895d-82dfb032418d
- author
- Nieto Castro, Adrian LU and Suhrcke, Marc
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Health Economics
- volume
- 80
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85117780344
- ISSN
- 0167-6296
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102543
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- c3da43fe-1aed-4ce2-895d-82dfb032418d
- date added to LUP
- 2025-03-18 17:21:27
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 15:23:10
@article{c3da43fe-1aed-4ce2-895d-82dfb032418d,
abstract = {{We examine the effect of screen-based activities on obesity and mental well-being for children, using a large survey dataset representative of the UK population and an event study model that exploits exogenous variation in the entry date of the digital television transition in the UK. The digital transition increased the number of available free television channels from 5 to 40, leading to a rise in television viewing time. Our results show that receiving access to digital television signal considerably increases the mental health total difficulties score among children, and that this impact grows over time. We also find suggestive evidence that the digital transition could have increased BMI for children. Underlying the net effects appear to be decreases in participation in social and physical activities.}},
author = {{Nieto Castro, Adrian and Suhrcke, Marc}},
issn = {{0167-6296}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Journal of Health Economics}},
title = {{The effect of TV viewing on children’s obesity risk and mental well-being: Evidence from the UK digital switchover}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102543}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102543}},
volume = {{80}},
year = {{2021}},
}