Abstract

Nowadays television plays an important role in the socialization of children and adolescents, by making available a wide range of models of behaviour. However, watching television is an activity that takes place, mainly, in a family context. Therefore, the family has an important mediating role. A study conducted in Coimbra with students from the 4th, 6th and 8th grades, suggests that family mediation should be more intentional and more frequent, in order to promote the development of active and critical TV viewers.