This study is aiming to evaluate the association between television viewing during childhood and long-term adolescent neuropsychological outcomes and the potential explanatory pathways. This is a longitudinal study based on 278 children participating in the INMA birth cohort (1998) in Menorca Island, Spain. The exposure is parent-reported duration of child television viewing (hours per week) at 6 and 9 years of age. Neuropsychological outcomes were assessed at 14 years of age using the N-back test. Behavioral outcomes at 14 years of age were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and school performance was assessed by the global school score. Regression models were developed to quantify the associations between duration of television viewing and neuropsychological outcomes adjusted for child and parents' characteristics. The average of weekly TV viewing from 6 to 9 years was 9.2 h (SD: 4.1). Only N-back test outcomes exhibited statistically significant differences in crude models. Children viewing > 14 h per week tended to show larger latencies in working memory reaction time (HRT in ms), beta (CI) = 53 (0-107). After adjusting for potential social confounders, the association weakened and became non-significant but adverse trends were slightly preserved. Early life TV viewing was not associated with adolescent neuropsychological outcomes after adjustment for potential confounders. Further research including larger and exhaustive population-based cohort studies is required in order to verify our conclusions.

All phases of the study was supported for grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Red INMA G03/176 and CB06/02/0041), (FIS 97/0588, 00/0021-2, PI061756, PS0901958 and CP14/00108), Beca de la IV convocatoria de Ayudas a la Investigación en Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas de La Caixa, and EC Contract No. QLK4-CT-2000- 00263. Payam Dadvand is funded by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC- 2012-10995) awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Miguel Servet (MS) fellowship (MS14/00108) awarded by the Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III (Ministry of Economy and/nCompetitiveness).