Objective. Early childhood exposure to violent media content represents an actionable target for preventive intervention. The associated risks for later aggressive behavior have been established in childhood, but few studies have explored widespread long-term associations with antisocial behavior. We investigate prospective associations between exposure to violent television content in early childhood and subsequent antisocial behavior in mid-adolescence. Method. Participants are 963 girls and 982 boys from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) birth cohort. Parents reported the frequency of their child’s exposure to violent television content at ages 3.5 and 4.5 years. Four indicators of antisocial behavior were self-reported by participants at age 15 years. These indicators were linearly regressed on exposure to violent television content at ages 3.5 and 4.5 years. All analyses, stratified by sex, controlled for pre-existing and concurrent potential individual and family confounding variables. Results. For boys, preschool violent televiewing was associated with increases in proactive aggression (β = 0.065; 95% CI, 0.001 to 0.089), physical aggression (β = 0.074; 95% CI, 0.040 to 0.487), and antisocial behavior (β = 0.076; 95% CI, 0.013 to 0.140) by mid-adolescence. No prospective associations were found for girls. Conclusions. This study of typically developing children demonstrates long-term perils associated with early exposure to violent content in childhood. We observed risks for aggressive and delinquent behavior in boys, more than a decade later. Preventive intervention campaigns that target knowledge transfer to parents and communities regarding the potential insidious consequences of preschool exposure promise more optimal development in youth.

Background/Objectives: Physical activity is an important protective factor throughout life. However, little research has observed the associations between the practice of physical activity and academic success longitudinally, and none have done so with a pan-Canadian sample. This article aims to examine the prospective associations between active leisure in middle childhood and academic achievement in emerging adulthood, for both boys and girls, beyond several family factors. Methods: Participants are 2775 children from the National Longitudinal Study on Children and Youth (NLSCY) aged between 12 and 20 years. Active leisure was self-reported by children at age 12 years regarding their weekly organized sport, artistic sport, and unstructured physical activity participation outside of school hours. Academic success was measured by self-reported school average at age 18 years and the obtention of high school diploma at age 20 years. Results: Girls who engaged in more organized or artistic sports at age 12 years had better academic results at age 18 years (respectively β = −0.082, p < 0.01; β = −0.228, p < 0.001). Both boys and girls who partook in more organized sports at age 12 years were more likely to graduate from high school by age 20 years (respectively β = −0.146, p < 0.001; β = −0.071, p < 0.05). However, girls who engaged in more unstructured physical activity at age 12 years had lower academic achievement at age 18 years (β = 0.077, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Policy makers should aim to reduce the many barriers to an active lifestyle in childhood. Parents should be encouraged to lead their children to go play outside with friends to allow them to fully reap the benefits of an active lifestyle from a young age.

Active play allows children to develop social and cognitive skills, which could lead to higher school engagement. Little is known about the role of child socioemotional difficulty in these associations. This study aims to examine the interaction between active play and socioemotional difficulty in childhood and their prospective association with academic engagement in adolescence. The participants were 4537 children (51.1% boys) who were longitudinally followed, between ages 6 and 14 years, from the National Longitudinal Study on Children and Youth (NLSCY), Canada. Active play (weekly organized sport and unstructured physical activity outside of school hours) and child behavior (hyperactivity, anxiety, and relational difficulties) were reported by mothers for their children at age 6 years. Academic engagement was self-reported at age 14 years. Unstructured physical activity predicted lower subsequent school engagement for boys (β = −0.057, p < 0.05). Boys with high anxiety symptoms and high relational aggression who participated in more unstructured physical activity in childhood were subsequently less engaged in school (respectively, β = −0.066, p < 0.05 and β = −0.062, p < 0.05). Girls who partook in more organized sports showed lower school engagement in adolescence when they had high anxiety symptoms (β = −0.067, p < 0.05). Although past studies have highlighted the contribution of active play to school engagement, certain socioemotional difficulties could impede the child’s ability to reap its benefits.