Television violence: An intervention to reduce its impact on children

In an attempt to minimize the adverse effects of television violence, the authors implemented a classroom-based intervention with 496 children in 32 classrooms (grades 1 to 4). The intervention consisted of 28 brief lessons conducted by university staff over the course of 7 months. Participants were individually interviewed prior to the intervention and on three other occasions, including 8 months after concluding the intervention. When compared to 242 participants in 17 control classrooms, the intervention children reported watching less violent TV and identifying less with TV's violent superheroes. They also expressed more critical attitudes concerning television violence. These results were achieved for both girls and boys across the 4 grade levels and were still evident 8 months after concluding the intervention. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.