Parent‐child coviewing of television

Abstract

Coviewing of television series featuring families was examined using questionnaire responses from 372 second, sixth, and tenth graders and their parents. Coviewing was found to be higher among parents who believe more in television's power to influence but was mostly the result of similar parent and child viewing habits and preferences. There was only weak evidence for positive consequences from coviewing, perhaps because coviewing is an imperfect indicator of parental mediation of children's television experiences. Descriptive data on coviewing patterns are also presented.