Messaris, PaulSarett, Carla2023-05-222023-05-221981-04-012017-04-28https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/2163This is a theoretical examination of certain ways in which a child's development may be affected by parent-child interactions in which the content of television programming appears as an explicit referent, i.e., as the topic of a verbal exchange, as the premise for a game, and so forth. The discussion deals with four areas of development, viz.: (1) the child's interpretational skills with regard to the television medium; (2) the child's repertory of cognitive categories regarding the real world; (3) the child's behavioral repertory, including both verbal and nonverbal items; and (4) the child's social relation¬ships. The paper concludes with a discussion of certain methodological issues involved in the empirical examination of these matters.This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Messaris, P.,& Sarett, C. (1981) "On the Consequences of Television Related Parent Child Interaction.” Human Communication Research, 7(3): 226 244., which has been published in final form at doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.1981.tb00571.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving Terms and Conditinos .CommunicationSocial and Behavioral SciencesArticle