Abstract des Autors

A study has been conducted on a sample of 1368 children attending compulsory school in order to examine the relationship between the time spent watching television and physical activity. A distinction has been made according to the time of the day when the children watch television: before going to school, back from school throughout the afternoon, and after dinner. As far as physical activity is concerned, the weekly frequency and the duration both of the organized physical activity and of the outdoor games have been considered separately. The practice of organized physical activity does not have a considerable influence on television viewing unilike the physical activity carried out by children after school. In the afternoon, when children dedicate themselves to outdoor games and sport activities, the time spent watching television is inversely proportional to the physical activity practiced 8 hours per week by the youngest children and 5.9 by the grown-ups, against 5.8 and 7 hours per week spent by those children who attend primary school and by the adolescents of secondary school: those who did not practice any physical activity (group A and D), those who practiced physical exercises less than an hour a day (group B and E) and more than an hour a day (group C and F). It has been noted that, considering the groups of those children who practiced physical activity for a longer period of time, the hours spent watching television were significantly lower as far as the children attending primary school are concerned (2.55+/-1.19 vs 2.39+/1.12 vs 2.16+/1.14) and those attending secondary schools (2.73+/1.15 vs 2.55+/-1.03 vs 2.39+/-1.02). These data are mainly due to a variation in the number of hours spent watching television during the afternoon by children attending both primary (1.28+/-0.87 vs 1.19+/-0.86 vs 0.99+/-0.81) and secondary schools (1.00+/-0.88 vs 0.89+/-0.84 vs 0.73+/-0.69). The negative effects of a prolonged time spent watching television could be contrasted promoting any kind of physical activity and of outdoor games. Verf.-Referat