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A new study by Peterson and Wingood et al found that "African-American female adolescents who spend more time watching rap music videos are more likely to participate in high-risk behaviors such as binge drinking and sex with multiple partners, to test positive for marijuana, and to have a negative body image."
This study follows up on Wingood's previous research with the same study population, where it was found that the teens who frequently watched rap videos were 3 times more likely to have hit a teacher, 2.5 times more likely to have been arrested, and twice as likely to have multiple sexual partners compared to infrequent viewers. Frequent rap video viewers were also 1.5 times as likely to have acquired a new STD, used drugs, or consumed alcohol.
In February, we posted some fun resources for teaching students about media and body image. One of those resources was a Dove ad showing the behind-the-scenes footage of how a regular woman is transformed into a model. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty aims to show the beauty of everyday women by highlighting the unrealistic ideals shown in the media. Their newest ad in the campaign has been released. Titled "Onslaught", it shows how girls are bombarded throughout their lives with beauty messages:
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood warns that although this message is positive, Dove's parent company (Unilever) owns brands like Axe body spray, notorious for their ads focusing on women's immediate attraction to men wearing the scent.
At its essence, the purpose of Nielsen Media Research is to keep track of who watches what. By tracking the TV program choices of 12,000 homes, they are able to learn which shows are most popular, thus influencing advertising rates and program continuation. They recently announced that they will triple the size of their sample to 37,000 households with 100,000 people.
According to their press release, this move is part of their Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement (A2/M2) initiative, which "seeks to measure televised video as it moves beyond the television set in the home to the Internet, hand-held devices and to platforms outside the house."
Mistry, Minkovitz, Strobino, and Borzekowski examined the effects of heavy TV viewing in early childhood for a study in the October issue of Pediatrics. They found that children who watched more than 2 hours of television per day between the ages of 2 ½ and 5 ½ had problems with social skills and with displaying aggressive behavior. Those who didn't watch much TV as toddlers, but who watched a lot at age 5 ½ also had difficulty with social skills.
The good news is that children who were heavy viewers as toddlers, but who reduced their viewing by age 5 ½ did not have significant social or behavioral problems.
