An Investigation of Supervision of Television Viewing As A Factor in Pre-Schoolers’ Sociability in Play

Abstract

In the modern culture, media is unavoidable .Today, it is a well accepted and experienced reality that all over the world, children come into daily contact with different forms of media .Out of the many channels of media T.V is the most common and plays a monumental role in the lives of children .This study investigated the supervision of T.V viewing as a factor in pre-schoolers’ sociability in play. The result should assist the media, parents, pre-school teachers and regulatory organs in protecting the pre-schoolers from negative influence of T.V viewing. For collection and presentation of the data, this study adopted a mixed methodology approach and descriptive survey design. The mixed methodology approach helped in broadening the understanding by incorporating qualitative and quantitative research. Both the qualitative and quantitative data were collected concurrently. Stratified and random sampling techniques were used in selecting pre-schools, parents with pre-schoolers, pre-schoolers and pre-school teachers.  Questionnaires, Interview guides and observation schedules were employed in data collection. To test the validity and reliability of the instruments, pilot study was carried out on three pre-schools from each zone. The quantitative data was analyzed descriptively based on tables, frequencies and percentages. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study found that due to economic demands, parents have limited time to view T.V with their children and therefore pre-school children enter into the world of fantasy inadequately guided by their parents

Key words: Social incompetence, unsupervised T.V watching, sociability in play, aggression behavior, pro-social behavior.