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Children who watch TV for more than three hours a day are more likely to get into trouble, says new research. It found viewing time among five-year-olds was linked to a higher risk of developing antisocial behaviour such as fighting and stealing by the age of seven. But scientists at the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) said the extra risk was very small, and they found no impact on behaviour from time spent playing computer or electronic games. Previous research suggested children spending more time in front of the TV have higher levels of behavioural and emotional problems. In the US, paediatric guidelines recommend that total screen time should be limited to less than two hours per day of educational, nonviolent programmes. There are currently no formal guidelines in the UK. Dr Alison Parkes, from the MRC/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, said the new study provided no evidence to support a maximum limit on TV viewing among young children, as emotional problems and attention span were unaffected. She said: �Initially we found that watching more than three hours� TV a day was associated with an increase in all problems, but this disappeared when we adjusted for other family influences. There was a small effect on one type of problem. �The drawback is we don�t know what the children were watching� she added. This study was the first in the UK to examine the relationship between screen use and change in mental health in young children over a two-year period.