Sport, TV and British Youth

Awareness of diet and obesity issues may have increased among children and young people in the UK over the past five years, but their interest in sport has declined and more spend time in their rooms watching TV, according to the Youth TGI survey by BMRB International.

Fewer than seven in ten boys agreed with the statement 'I love playing sport', down from 77% in 1999. Conversely, more are spending time in their bedrooms watching TV: the proportion of 7-14-year-olds with sets in their bedroom continues to grow, up from 75% in 2003 to 77% now, with girls catching up with boys in this respect.

Cartoons remain comfortably the no.1 programme genre for both sexes in the 7-10 age band, but in the 11-14 age group girls prefer pop music shows and boys comedy. Satellite, digital and cable television are seen as the 'coolest' media for this age group (47% say so), closely followed by cinema (46%) and the Internet (44%).

Around 8% of 7-10-year-olds claim to watch television beyond the 9pm 'watershed' on weekdays and Sundays, but the figure doubles for Saturday night viewing: these figures remain around the same as they were ten years ago.

BMRB surveyed 6,000 people aged 14 and under. The company's web site is at www.bmrb.co.uk

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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