Screen time to healthfulness: Mapping sport and nutrition representations in early childhood television content through dual theoretical lenses

This research investigates the complex representation of healthfulness messages in early childhood television content, examining how health-related behaviours and attitudes are constructed and communicated to young viewers. Drawing on both health communication and television studies perspectives, the analysis of 330 episodes from children’s channels reveals nuanced patterns in the representation of sport and physical activities, nutrition and body image. The findings unveil a significant paradox in health messaging: while sport narratives lack explicit connections to health outcomes, nutritional content presents a clear dichotomy between healthy foods as wellness facilitators and unhealthy foods as entertainment elements. Furthermore, the study identifies distinct body image patterns, with child characters predominantly portrayed within a narrow range of body types, while adult characters display greater diversity. This research contributes to our understanding of how early childhood media shapes health literacy and suggests critical implications for content creators, health educators and policy-makers in fostering more effective health-promoting messages. The study’s theoretical approach integrates social cognitive theory with health-related motive orientation theory, providing a dual theoretical framework for understanding the construction of health messaging in children’s media.