Cutting down on kids' TV time may relieve parents of their little ones' toy demands. New research suggests that the fewer commercials children see, the less materialistic they become.

For decades, there has been concern about the number of television ads American children are exposed to. Since the 1970s, the average number of commercials a child sees in a year has doubled, from about 20,000 to 40,000.

And since half of ads geared toward children hawk toys, the situation is helping to drain parents' wallets.

It is not surprising that parents report that television is the most common source of children's purchase requests.

In the study, children who had had cut their TV viewing by about one-third had their toy demands fall. They were 70% less likely than children at the other school to have asked their parents for a toy in the previous week.

These results are evidence for a causal effect of TV viewing on children's hunger for toys.

Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics June 2001;22:179-184