The relationships between body mass index and television viewing, internet use and cellular phone use: The moderating effects of socio‐demographic characteristics and exercise

Abstract

The results support the relationships between adolescent BMI and television viewing and Internet use. The moderating effect of exercise and various Internet and cellular phone-related activities should be considered when developing intervention strategies for overweight adolescents.

Obesity and Quality of Life in Communities of Diverse Ethnicity and Low Socioeconomics

“…Interestingly, not all sedentary behavior has the same potential to increase the risk of obesity. According to Yen (Yen et al, 2010) adolescents who had high television viewing had higher BMI after controlling for the effects of socio-demographic characteristics and exercise level. While the associations between BMI and television viewing and exercise level became insignificant, the interaction between television viewing and exercise level was significantly associated with BMI.…”

“…In 1985 the first assertion that television viewing may lead to obesity in some children and adolescents was published (Dietz & Gortmaker, 1985). The authors reported that the prevalence of obesity in adolescents increased 2% for each additional hour of television watched (Yen et al, 2010). They suggested that this relationship may be mediated by a direct displacement of physical activity, as well as, an increase in caloric consumption induced by food advertisements and snacking time (Dietz & Gortmaker, 1985).…”

“…They suggested that this relationship may be mediated by a direct displacement of physical activity, as well as, an increase in caloric consumption induced by food advertisements and snacking time (Dietz & Gortmaker, 1985). The displacement hypothesis suggests that sedentary lifestyle decreases physical activity as a result of the increasing availability of high-tech devices in an industrialized lifestyle (Yen et al, 2010). Some studies on the association between sedentary behaviors and adolescent obesity have demonstrated only a weak association or no association at all.…”

“…Many of these studies are not comparative and the results are not conclusive (Rey-Lopez et al, 2008). The absence of consensus has been suggested to be due to the lack of controls for confounding variables such as socioeconomic status and age (Yen et al, 2010).…”

“…Limitations of previous studies include: small sample size, localized to a few cities, and study design inconsistency that prevented study comparison (Richmond et al, 2010). "Problematic sedentary behavior" has been defined as viewing television more than 2 hours per day, using the internet more than 20 hours per week; and using the cellular phone more than 1 hour per day (Yen et al, 2010;American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001). Interestingly, not all sedentary behavior has the same potential to increase the risk of obesity.…”