IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v158y2026ics0264999326000830.html

The unequal effects of weekday television on Children's academic and behavioral skills

Author

Listed:
  • Osmani, Ahmad Reshad

Abstract

This study evaluates how weekday television exposure influences children's academic and behavioral development in the United States, using NLSY79 data and variation in maternal fixed daytime work schedules to identify causal effects. Instrumental variable quantile regression demonstrates how these effects differ across the distributions of reading, math, and behavior scores. The results show substantial heterogeneity. Reading losses are greatest among children with lower baseline skills, whereas negative impacts on math and socioemotional outcomes appear in the middle and upper parts of their distributions. Higher performing children appear less affected by additional television exposure, although some modest reading gains arise when content is structured or educational. The findings indicate that promoting guided media use and expanding high-quality after-school options may help narrow early skill gaps.

Suggested Citation

  • Osmani, Ahmad Reshad, 2026. "The unequal effects of weekday television on Children's academic and behavioral skills," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:158:y:2026:i:c:s0264999326000830
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2026.107554
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999326000830
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2026.107554?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • C36 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:158:y:2026:i:c:s0264999326000830. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.