Exploring the Link between Television Program Pacing and Aggression among Iranian Students

Abstract

This study designed to examine the relationship between television program pacing and aggressive behavior among primary school students in Iran. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase consisted of a survey with 424 primary school students (aged 7-12 years) in the five provinces of Iran which were selected through a multi-stage random sampling of Iran. This survey investigated whether exposure to television program was related to children's use of media that explored using Buss – Perry standard questionnaire. The results revealed that 23% and 49% of the students displayed high and moderate aggression level respectively. A total of 22 programs were selected as the most favorite children’s TV programs which were assigned to a technical content analysis known as pacing in the second phase of study. The findings of the study showed that the highest pacing index was attributed to Pokemon (67.08), while Fetileh ranked as the lowest pacing index program (23.86). The results also revealed that TV program pacing scores were significantly and positively associated with aggression level of primary school children (p<0.05). The results of this study suggested the need for further attention on children’s television program production to protect them from antisocial behaviors.