Most parents think their children regularly see TV violence despite their efforts to impose limits, a study published Tuesday shows.

Researchers say the findings highlight the tough job parents face when they try to curb their kids’ exposure to media mayhem.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, included 677 Washington, DC-area parents who answered questions on their children’s exposure to television, videos and video games.

The respondents were part of a larger study looking into parents’ approaches to raising their children.

The TV-centered questions revealed that in families where the youngest child was allowed to watch television, 53 percent of parents said they always limited kids’ exposure to violent programs. Yet nearly three-quarters thought their child saw TV violence at least once a week.

Although the study did not ask why there was such “monitoring failure,” the study authors offer some potential explanations. Parents may, for instance, not be aware beforehand that a particular program will contain violence, or they may not have the time to keep a close eye on everything child sees.

The fact that parents who thought they were being vigilant still had to admit their kids were probably seeing media violence “speaks to the pervasiveness of violence on TV,” study co-author Dr. Joseph L. Wright told Reuters Health.

By highlighting the challenge to parents, the study may encourage pediatricians to offer more advice, according to Wright, who is medical director of advocacy and community affairs at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents limit children’s exposure to TV, video games and other media to no more than two hours per day. It also suggests that parents watch television with their children and keep kids’ bedrooms TV-free.

The concern over children viewing media violence arises from the body of research tying such exposure to aggressive behavior. The new study was an attempt to see what parents are typically thinking and doing when it comes to their own children’s exposure to violence.

Overall, 75 percent of parents said their youngest child watched TV. In these families, more than half of parents had rules limiting TV violence, while 45 percent said they “usually” or “always” watched TV with their youngest child. But the older that child was, the less likely parents were to watch TV with them or to limit their exposure to violent programs. Few parents of children older than 10 said they always reined in their child’s violence viewing.

Parents were more vigilant when it came to sex on TV, with 70 percent saying they always limited their children’s exposure to sexual content. Again, the rules were more lax with children older than 10.

On average, children spent between two and three hours a day in front of the TV, according to parents. Kids also devoted an average of one to two hours each day to playing video games - the content of which the study did not address.

Still, the researchers call the amount of time given to video games concerning, given that some evidence suggests violent video games may have a more harmful impact on children than TV violence.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, July 2004.