The effect of TV viewing on children’s obesity risk and mental well-being: Evidence from the UK digital switchover

Adrián Nieto; Marc Suhrcke

doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102543

The effect of TV viewing on children’s obesity risk and mental well-being: Evidence from the UK digital switchover

Adrián Nieto, Marc Suhrcke

Centre for Health Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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.

Original language	English
Article number	102543
Journal	Journal of Health Economics
Volume	80
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102543
Publication status	Published - 17 Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Television
BMI
Obesity
Mental health
Well-being

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102543Licence: CC BY

1-s2.0-S0167629621001284-main
©2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Final published version, 2.25 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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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.",

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