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ABSTRACT
Although there has been much research in recent years examining early childhood media viewing, ethnically/racially diverse children consistently watch more TV than their non-Hispanic White peers. This study begins to explore associations between race/ethnicity and the viewing habits of young children and assesses whether and how often children are watching concordant shows (i.e. shows containing primary characters that “look like them”). As part of a larger media study, a community-based sample of parents of children ages 3–5 years were included. Parents completed a demographic survey assessing child/family characteristics and 1-week media diaries recording program names and screen time (TV/DVDs) for the index child. Concordance programming was defined as viewing shows with primary characters of the same race/ethnicity as the child. Results indicated that racial/ethnic minority children watched more shows with diverse characters (concordant shows and shows with “non-White” characters) than shows that contained “only White” characters, whereas racial/ethnic majority children spent approximately two-thirds of their viewing time watching shows with “Only White” characters. Interestingly, although programs with racial/ethnic minority characters (e.g., Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street) frequently appeared on children's media diaries, child race/ethnicity significantly predicted the proportion of time that participants spent watching racially/ethnically concordant programming.