The Influence of Television on Children's Fantasy Styles: A Secondary Analysis

Abstract

In a secondary analysis applied to longitudinal data obtained from a panel survey, the authors established how violent and nonviolent television program types were related to three fantasy styles: a positive-intense, aggressive-heroic, and a dysphoric fantasy style. A sample of Dutch children ( N = 354) was surveyed when they were in Grades 2 and 4, and resurveyed two years later. Results indicated that children's fantasy styles in Year 1 did not affect their television viewing in Year 3. However, children's viewing frequency in Year 1 did influence their fantasy styles in Year 3. The longitudinal effects of television were dependent on the types of programs watched. Watching nonviolent children's programs encouraged a positive-intense fantasy style, whereas violent programs encouraged an aggressive-heroic fantasy style. Television viewing was unrelated to dysphoric fantasy.