Influence of Television Viewing on Aggressive Behaviour Among Primary School Children in Ilorin, Kwara State, North Central Nigeria

Media violence exposure through television remains a significant concern for child psychologists in Nigeria, where regulation of broadcast content for children is limited and average television viewing hours among primary school children exceed recommended guidelines. This study examines the influence of television viewing patterns on aggressive behaviour among primary school children in Ilorin, Kwara State. A descriptive survey is applied to 260 children aged 8 to 13 years from six primary schools in Ilorin East and West local government areas, with parents completing a Television Viewing Habits Questionnaire and teachers administering the Children's Aggression Scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis are performed in SPSS. Available developmental psychology literature from North Central Nigeria identifies action films and conflict-themed programmes as the content categories most strongly associated with physical and verbal aggression in boys, with daily viewing time as the strongest predictor. Social Learning Theory by Bandura and the General Aggression Model by Anderson and Bushman provide the theoretical grounding. Findings are expected to confirm a significant positive relationship between aggressive content viewing frequency and children's aggressive behaviour scores, with implications for parental guidance advocacy and content regulation policy in Kwara State. Keywords: television viewing, aggressive behaviour, primary school children, Ilorin, Kwara State.