Center on Media and Child Health

Do Crime Rates Influence Sedentary Behavior?

In the last 30 years, technological changes have made staying inside more appealing to kids than ever before.  With TV, video games, computers and other media inside, kids aren't always interested in playing outside, or encouraged to do so.  One reason parents may actually want to keep their kids inside is because neighborhoods are less safe for kids to play in.

A new study by Brown et al investigates whether an area's crime rate influences the sedentary behavior of the children who live there. After studying a population of 4th graders in Texas, they found that:

• Boys were more likely to play video games in communities where robbery rates are high and sexual offenders are common
• Girls were more likely to watch TV in communities where sexual offenders are common, but they were less likely to use computers

The authors point out that given the link they found between crime rates and some kinds of media, and that using these media is sedentary in nature, then crime rates may be indirectly influencing obesity.

New Guidelines to Reduce Soft Drink Marketing to Children

On Tuesday, the International Council of Beverages Associations, the worldwide trade association representing the non-alcoholic beverage industry, adopted new guidelines on marketing to children.

Beverage companies can voluntarily agree to the guidelines, which eliminate advertising to audiences that are primarily composed of children under 12. The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo both pledged to meet the new guidelines by the end of 2008. Disney adopted similar standards in 2006.

Should Children Get Fit Using Video Games?

Some players already use the Nintendo Wii as a form of exercise, but the new Wii Fit brings the concept to a new level. The game includes a weight-sensing balance board on which players stand and move to participate in strength-training, yoga, and balancing via video game. Nintendo calls it “a combination of fitness and fun.” Buyers seem to agree.

This new release highlights some growing questions about exercise-focused video games. In particular, what effects do they have on children (especially those under 6) who use them? In a recent San Diego Union Tribune article, Dr. Don Shifrin explained that we don’t really know yet, and Dr. Daniel Anderson said that parents should limit children’s video game time and make sure that they don’t play even mildly violent games. There is plenty of research to support these recommendations, but when it comes to fitness by video game—at least for the moment—the jury is still out. For more information, see the following links

• Energy expenditure of sedentary screen time compared with active screen time for children
• Selecting appropriate toys for young children: The pediatrician’s role

 

Take This Game and Run With It

Back in April we told you about an "active-adventure" video game in development by students at Carnegie Mellon.  The Pittsburgh News interviewed the creators and got to see the game in action! 

Players run on a pad when they want their character to run on-screen; jump when they want the character to jump; and step forward and swing their arm when they want the character to punch. The creators are hoping that this game offers a full-body action experience to combat the sedentary nature of most video games.  See video of game play

When is too much...well, too much?

When it comes to children's video game use, this question is not easy to answer, but a recent article in U.S. News and World Report highlights the importance of asking by stating that 8.5 percent of 8-to-18-year-old gamers can be considered pathologically addicted.

Although the American Psychiatric Association does not yet recognize game addiction, recent research out of the Stanford University School of Medicine has shown that "areas of the brain responsible for generating feelings of addiction and reward are activated during game play." And plenty of parents have the anecdotal evidence to prove it.

See CMCH's February Parent Perspective for one parent's experience with her daughter's gaming addiction.

**Update** 05/15/08:  One of our readers noted that the President of the American Medical Association recently issued a commentary on video game overuse.

Women are Sex Objects and Black Men are Thugs?

Since last week’s release of Grand Theft Auto IV, there has been an upsurge in concern about how violence in video games affects those who play them. But it’s not only their violence that’s raising eyebrows— concern is also mounting over their use of stereotypes. A Boston Globe article addresses the “growing number of gamers and scholars criticizing the lack of diversity and high proportion of stereotypes in video games.”

Some people argue that stereotypes are an acceptable form of comedy and that seeing them represented in media does not affect people’s views of the world. The research, however, suggests otherwise. Several recent studies show that video games’ stereotypical portrayals of gender and race may be harmful for young people.

One study suggests that video games, like other forms of media, “are sources of information that children and young adults may use to determine what behaviors and attitudes are considered appropriately masculine and feminine.” That finding is especially troubling given that video games overwhelmingly portray men as aggressive and violent, while women are shown as hyper-sexualized objects.

Likewise, racial stereotypes abound and black men are unlikely to be represented as anything other than thugs or athletes. A forthcoming study explores the effects of such stereotypes on players of both majority and minority racial backgrounds.

For more information, see the following studies:

• Fair play? Violence, gender and race in video games
• Video game characters and the socialization of gender roles: Young people's perceptions mirror sexist media depictions
• Social evaluations of stereotypic images in video games: Unfair, legitimate, or "just entertainment"?

Infant TV Associated with Limited Verbal Interactions

In a new study by Mendelsohn et al , researchers studied the TV behavior of 154 low-income mothers and their 6-month-old infants.  97% of the mothers reported that their infants watched TV every day.  The researchers observed that the parents interacted with their children just 23% of the time that the TV was on.

As CMCH mentions in our guide to media and developmental stages, infants and toddlers need stimulation in three main ways, none of which are provided by television-watching: interacting with people, interacting with their physical environment, and solving open-ended problems. 

Glamorizing Thinness through Pro-Anorexia Websites

Last week, the French parliament’s lower house adopted a bill that would make it illegal to publicly glamorize or encourage extreme thinness. In particular, the bill cracks down on “pro-ana”—or pro-anorexia—websites, where people with eating disorders can go for advice on how to lose weight, for photos of waif-like celebrities that offer “Thinspiration,” and for general support.

Pro-ED (eating disorder) websites have raised controversy for as long as they've existed--in fact, when public, most are taken down within days of appearing on the web. And although some call these sites sanctuaries for people with common experiences, others see them as "encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation that would...[expose] them to risk of death or directly compromise health," which would make them illegal under this bill.

See research about pro-anorexia websites:

• Bardone-Cone et al (2007). "What does viewing a pro-anorexia website do? An experimental examination of website exposure and moderating effects."
• Bardone-Cone et al (2006). "Investigating the impact of pro-anorexia websites: a pilot study."
• Dias (2003). "The ANA sanctuary: Women's pro-anorexia narratives in cyberspace."
• Fox et al (2005). "Pro-anorexia, weight-loss drugs and the Internet: An 'anti-recovery' explanatory model of anorexia."