Center on Media and Child Health

Featured Books

Here is a list of published and upcoming titles of interest on the topics of children, media, and health. Please let us know about any new books you would like to see highlighted in the future!

• Children and the Internet (2009) by Sonia Livingstone

This new book addresses pressing questions such as: Is the internet really transforming children and young people's lives? And, is the so-called 'digital generation' genuinely benefiting from exciting new opportunities?

• Reclaiming Childhood: Freedom and Play in an Age of Fear (2009) by Helene Guldberg

The author argues that parents need to allow children to grow and flourish, to balance sensible guidance with youthful independence. That means letting children play, experiment, and mess around without adults hovering over them.

• Harm and Offense in Media Content -Second Edition (2009) by Sonia Livingstone and Andrea Millwood

This fully revised edition offers a unique and comprehensive analysis of the latest research on  the media's potential for harm, especially in relation to children.

• WATCH IT! (2009) by by Mary Strom Larson

The author highlights the likely consequences of kids consuming television ad other media without adult intervention.

Upcoming Book

• Serious Games: Mechanisms and Effects (2009) by Ute Ritterfeld, Michael Cody and Peter Vorderer

The central purpose of this book is to examine critically the claim that playing games can provide learning that is deep, sustained and transferable to the "real world."

CMCH En Español!

Previously, we had one of our Spanish-speaking fans translate her experience with media and her grandson into English for us.  After she shared her story, we were determined to start offering CMCH materials in Spanish. 

We are excited to announce the debut of another Parent Perspective from a Spanish-speaking parent.  Yessica talks about her experience monitoring the TV that her son watches, and we have posted her thoughts in both English and Spanish versions. 

As a counterpart to Yessica's story, we have also translated our "What You Need to Know About Media and Kids' Health" page into Spanish.  We hope to make more materials available in Spanish in the future!

New Legislation Regulates Tobacco Marketing

This morning, President Obama signed legislation that gives the FDA the ability to regulate tobacco marketing.  They are expected to take a number of measures to reduce tobacco advertising to youth:

• Most cigarette ads will be limited to black-and-white text only (which may face free-speech challenges)
• Outdoor advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds is banned (though research shows that there is still a lot of advertising in neighborhoods near these schools)
• Tobacco-brand sponsorships of sports and entertainment events will be stopped (research shows that teens who watched a tobacco-sponsored sports event were more likely to experiment with tobacco)

Research Wrap-Up: June 19, 2009

Here is a list of recently published studies on children, media, and health which explore a range of topics:

Cooper, N.R., Uller, C., Pettifer, J. & Stolc, F.C.(2009). Conditioning attentional skills: Examining the effects of the pace of television editing on children's attention. Acta Paediatr. Available online June 4.

• The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of the amount of viewing television time on school-age children.

Daniels, E. A. (2009). Sex objects, athletes, and sexy athletes: How media representations of women athletes can impact adolescent girls and college women. Journal of Adolescent Research, 24(4),  399-422.

• This study examined how images of performance athletes, sexualized athletes, sexualized models, and nonsexualized models impacted adolescent girls' and college women's tendency to self-objectify.

Fisher, D.A., Hill. D.L., Grube, J.W., Bersamin, M.M., Walker, S., & Gruber, E.L. (2009).Televised sexual content and parental mediation: Influences on adolescent sexuality. Media Psychology, 12(2), 121-147.

• This study investigates the relations among exposure to sexually suggestive programming, parental mediation strategies, and three types of adolescent sexuality outcomes: participation in oral sex and sexual intercourse, future intentions to engage in these behaviors, and sex expectancies.

Gentile, D. A. et al. (2009).The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: International evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies. Pers Soc Psychol Bull, 35(6), 752-763.

• This study explores the potential effects of prosocial video games.

Ivory, J.D., Williams. D., Martins, N. & Consalvo, M. (2009). Good clean fun? A content analysis of profanity in video games and its prevalence across game systems and ratings. Cyberpsychol Behav. Available online June 10.

• This study examines verbal aggression in the form of profanity in video games in a sample of the 150 top-selling video games across all popular game platforms.

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Use the free CMCH Database of Research to find other studies on children, media, and health.

Walk Like a Mediatrician

Last Sunday CMCH represented Ask the Mediatrician^SM at the NSTAR Walk for Children's Hospital Boston.  Though it poured in the morning, the weather cleared up for their 7 mile walk and all had a good time while talking up our new service!  Have you got a question for The Mediatrician^SM?  Go ahead and ask! 

If you didn't get a chance to donate to our efforts but would still like to, please click here.

The CMCH Team including Dr. Michael Rich -- The Mediatrician^SM himself (holding sign) and CMCH staff Karen Fisher, Dr. Dafna Lemish, Lauren Rubenzahl, and Dr. Ariel Chernin. 
 

Research Wrap-Up: June 12, 2009

Here is a list of recently published studies on children, media, and health which explore a range of topics:

Calzo, J.P. &  Ward, L.M. (2009). Media exposure and viewers' attitudes toward homosexuality: Evidence for mainstreaming or resonance? Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53(2), 280-299.

• This study explored connections between media use and college students' attitudes of acceptance towards homosexuality.

Christakis, D.A. et al. (2009). Audible television and decreased adult words, infant vocalizations, and conversational turns: A population-based study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 163(6), 554-8.

• This study tests the hypothesis that audible television is associated with decreased parent and child interactions.

Eslick, G.D. & Eslick, M.G. (2009). Smoking and the Simpsons. Med J Aust. 190(11), 637-9.

• This study determines the frequency of smoking on The Simpsons television show, and the relationship with the sex and age groups of characters shown smoking, and with positive, negative and neutral connotations associated with instances of smoking.

Greenberg, B.S., Rosaen, S.F., Worrell, T.R., Salmon, C.T. & Volkman, J.E. (2009). A portrait of food and drink in commercial TV series. Health Commun. 24(4), 295-303.

• This study examines the content and presentation of food and drink on fictional, commercial television. It provides the first comparison of food and drink consumption across different television program genres designated for different age groups.

Martino, S., Collins, R., Elliott, M., Kanouse, D. & and Berry, S. (2009). It's better on TV: Does television set teenagers up for regret following sexual initiation? Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 41(2), 92-100.

• This study examined the association between exposure to sex on television and the likelihood of regret following sexual initiation, the extent to which shif ts in expectations about the positive consequences of sex mediate this association and whether these relationships differ by gender.

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Use the free CMCH Database of Research to find other studies on children, media, and health.

Q: What do you get when you cross a Hollywood filmmaker with a pediatrician?

A: The Mediatrician^SM

Q:  How do I deal with inappropriate commercials during sports TV?

Q:  My 2 year old was scared by a movie, what do I do?

Q:  How much TV is too much TV?

From cyberbullying and violent video games to social networking and sexting, parents are overwhelmed by the new media environment and how it affects their children. To help parents navigate this new and changing landscape, CMCH is excited to announce the launch of Ask the Mediatrician ^SM.

Pediatrician, former Hollywood producer, parent, and CMCH founder Dr. Michael Rich
turns research-based recommendations into action steps parents can take in order to make media a positive and healthful encounter for their families.   

Also, check out our new and improved homepage!

Research Wrap-Up: June 5, 2009

Here is a list of recently published studies on children, media, and health which explore a range of topics:

Calamaro, C.J., Mason, T.,& Ratcliffe, S.J. (2009). Adolescents living the 24/7 lifestyle: Effects of caffeine and technology on sleep duration and daytime functioning. Pediatrics, 123(6), e1005-e1010.

• To explore the relationship between new media technology and new, popular energy drinks  which may impact sleep duration in adolescents.

Evans, W. D., Davis, K.C., Ashley, O.L.,  Blitstein, J., Koo,  H., & Zhang, Y. (2009). Efficacy of abstinence promotion media messages: Findings from an online randomized trial. Journal of Adolescent Health, Available Online 1 June.

• To evaluate the efficacy of messages from the Parents Speak Up National Campaign (PSUNC) to promote parent–child communication about sex.

Ko, C., Yen, J.,  Liu, S., Huang, C. & Yen, C. (2009). The associations between aggressive behaviors and internet addiction and online activities in adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 44(6),598-605.

• To evaluate (a) the association between Internet addiction and aggressive behaviors, as well as the moderating effects of gender, school, and depression on this association; and (b) to evaluate the association between Internet activities and aggressive behaviors.

Okuma, K. & Tanimura, M. (2009). A preliminary study on the relationship between characteristics of TV content and delayed speech development in young children. Infant Behavior and Development, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 26 May 2009.

• To explore the association between delayed language development and heavy TV viewing in toddlers.

Vogel, I., Verschuure, H., van der Ploeg, C., Brug, J. & and Raat, H. (2009). Adolescents and MP3 players: Too many risks, too few precautions. Pediatrics, 123(6), e953-e958.

• To assess risky and protective listening behaviors of adolescent users of MP3 players and the association of these behaviors with demographic characteristics and frequency of use.

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Use the free CMCH Database of Research to find other studies on children, media, and health.

Using Cell Phones to Learn about Sex

A new text service offers teens a way to ask questions about sex that they otherwise might feel too embarrassed to ask. The Birds & Bees Text Line, based out of the Adolescent Pregnancy Campaign of North Carolina, does not offer medical advice but does answer questions like, "What are the symptoms of gonorrhea?" or "Where can I get condoms?"

Although it can only accept texts from phones within the state, this service is one of many currently experimenting with using text messages to communicate health information to youth. Another is SEXINFO in San Francisco, whose work is similar to that of The Birds & Bees.

For those living outside of North Carolina, other private, teen-friendly resources for questions about sex include the Center for Young Women's Health, Scarleteen and Go Ask Alice.

Got $10?

Do you subscribe to our blog or newsletters?  Follow us on Twitter or Facebook?  Use the CMCH Database of Research?  If you find these free resources helpful, consider showing your appreciation by sponsoring the CMCH team in the NSTAR Walk for Children's Hospital Boston on June 14th! 

Click here to donate to our team "Ask the Mediatrician".  You will be directed to donate to our team captain, Karen Fisher.  Money will go to support Ask the Mediatrician -- our exciting new service, launching soon, where parents can ask for advice about using media with their families.

Thank you in advance for your support!