Center on Media and Child Health

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies: October 30, 2009

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

Aires, L., Andersen, L., Mendonça, D., Martin, C., Silva, G., & Mota, J. (2009). A 3-year longitudinal analysis of changes in fitness, physical activity, fatness and screen time. Acta Paediatr. Available Online Oct 19.

• This study analyzes whether changes in physical activity index, screen time (ST: television, computer) and body mass index made a contribution to longitudinal changes in fitness of children and adolescents.

Brookes, F. &  Kelly, P. (2009). Dolly girls: Tweenies as artefacts of consumption. Journal of Youth Studies, 12(6), 599-613.

• This paper argues that the 'consumer-media culture' has established itself as one of the most powerful influences in processes of self-formation for young people, and that a tweenie self can be understood as an artefact of consumption.

Manios, Y. et al. (2009). Obesity and television watching in preschoolers in Greece: The GENESIS study. Obesity,17(11), 2047–2053.

• The aim of the current work was to evaluate the effect of preschoolers' television (TV) watching time on the prevalence of obesity even after controlling for their total energy intake and their physical activity status.

Owens, S., Lambert, L., McDonough, S., Green, K., & Loftin, M. (2009). Feasibility of a home-delivered Internet obesity prevention program for fourth-grade students. Pediatr Exerc Sci. 21(3), 279-290.

• This study examined the feasibility of an interactive obesity prevention program delivered to a class of fourth-grade students utilizing daily e-mail messages sent to the students' home computers.

West, A., Lewis, J., & Currie, P. (2009). Students' Facebook 'friends': Public and private spheres. Journal of Youth Studies,12(6), 615-627.

• This study involved interviewing a sample of student users of Facebook: it focuses on the extent to which older adults, especially parents, are accepted as Facebook friends, and the attitudes towards such friendships and potential friendships and what these reveal about notions of

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

Research Toolbox: Statistics Resources on Media Use and Children

The newly released Nielsen report A2/M2: Three Screen Report, revealed that Americans are increasing their overall media consumption and that on average consumers spend 2 hours, 39 minutes each month simultaneously using the Internet while also watching TV. 

In the light of this statistical report, here are some statistics resources on media use and children:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- Data and Statistics
  

Resources for parents and educators about youth and electronic aggression.

• Kaiser Family Foundation- Fast Facts on Media and Health

Kaiser's database of slides and tables. You can use the slides and tables to create your own customized PowerPoint slideshow.

• Media Use Statistics by Frank W. Baker

Resources on media habits of children, youth, and adults.

• Nielsen Media

Insightful information about about the media industry and consumption, and links to Nielsen media reports.

• Nordicom (Nordic Information Center for Media and Communication Research)

Insightful data on media use collected by Statistics Finland, Statistics Iceland, medianorway, and Nordicom-Sweden.

• Pew Internet & American Life Project

Statistics on the latest  Pew Internet & American Life Project research, infographics, and trend data.

 

Reaction to the Australian Screen-Time Recommendations

CMCH asked Australian author Tania Andrusiak to be a guest blogger and give us the inside scoop on how people are reacting to the Australian government's screen time recommendations.  Tania is the author of Adproofing Your Kids: Raising critical thinkers in a media-saturated world.

Get Up and Grow, the new parenting guidelines aimed at fostering healthy habits in children, were released last week by the Australian government. Developed in conjunction with Murdoch Children's Research Institute and Melbourne’s Royal Children's Hospital, these are the first official recommendations to address children’s screen time: none at all for kids under age two, and a maximum of one hour per day for those aged two to five.

But here’s the rub: these guidelines fly in the face of real screen habits. Australian children under four watch a daily average of 154 minutes of free-to-air TV, or 194 minutes of cable TV – with four-month-olds exposed to around 44 minutes. Not surprisingly, this made for some healthy debate.

Patricia Edgar, founding director of the Australian Children’s Television Foundation suggested the guidelines reflected a lack of understanding about what really went on in the lives of Australian children. This sentiment echoed across many parenting message boards, with resentment over the government’s perceived intrusion into the right to parent as we wish. However, an equal amount felt that limiting young children’s screen time was simple commonsense, and quite a few were compelled to seek out further information.

And perhaps raising awareness is where ‘Get Up and Grow’ will make its biggest impact. While most forum participants agreed that TV limited children’s socialisation, it was clear that few were aware of the problems these guidelines were created to address: the impact on young children’s language development, attention span and active play. Only a handful identified that TV affects the ability of a caregiver to attend to children, or that kids routinely see images they find confusing, upsetting and scary. And the idea that TV made it hard for kids to concentrate on playing had some clearly puzzled: weren’t they just ‘multitasking’?

Kudos to the Rudd Government for introducing evidence-based parenting into discussions around children’s screen time. Often it’s hard to know what the ‘right amount’ is – especially when modern life, the habits of others and our children’s unique ability to get more than they need seem to thwart our efforts. While the success of ‘Get Up and Grow’ remains to be seen, at least it’s got parents talking, and that’s got to be a good thing.

I’ll leave the last thought to Katey, mother of a nine-month-old: "I cannot imagine that the TV could give my child more than I do. It cannot take her outside to play on the grass, cannot speak directly to her, cannot hold her while she pats a cat or a dog or a sheep, cannot respond to her babbling, cannot play the music she likes, cannot teach her the name of something she is pointing at." 

If only the Rudd Government had put it so eloquently.

To read more from Tania, check out her blog and Twitter stream!

AAP Advocates for Safer Media and Impact of Music

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) just released two new policy statements, “Media Violence,” and “Impact of Music, Music Lyrics, and Music Videos on Children and Youth.” The authors include recommendations for parents and pediatricians to take an active role in monitoring and controlling what their children are watching and listening to. Here are some of the recommendations:

Media Violence:

• Ask at least two media-related questions at each well-child visit: how much TV is the child watching, and is there a TV or Internet connection in the bedroom? 
• When heavy media usage is detected, evaluate the child for aggressive behaviors, fears, or sleep disturbances.
• Suggest alternatives to media, such as sports, interactive play, and reading.
• Encourage parents to follow the AAP recommendations on media use, including prohibiting media in bedrooms and limiting screen time to one to two hours a day, and providing no screen media at all for infants and toddlers under two years old. 

Impact of Music:

• Become familiar with the role of music in the lives of children and adolescents and identify music preferences that could be clues to emotional conflict or problems.
• Become familiar with the literature linking music to behavioral problems.
• Encourage parents to take an active role in monitoring their youngsters' music and music video watching.
• Parents and the public should be aware of and use the music industry's parental advisory warning of explicit content.

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies-October 16, 2009

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

Biddle, S.J., Gorely, T., & Marshall, S.J. (2009).  Is television viewing a suitable marker of sedentary behavior in young people? Ann Behav Med. Available Online Oct 7.

• This study was conducted to test whether TV viewing in UK teenagers is a marker of sedentary behavior more broadly and to see if the results mirror those of Australian adults.

McCarthy, W.J., et al. (2009). Density of  tobacco retailers near schools: Effects on tobacco use among students. American Journal of Public Health, 99(11), 2006-2013.

• This study examined the relationship between students' tobacco use and the density and proximity of tobacco retailers near their schools.

Parvanta, S. A., Brown, J.D., Du, S., Zimmer,  C.R.,  Zhao, X.,  Zhai, F. (2009). Television use and snacking behaviors among children and adolescents in China. Journal of Adolescent Health, Available Online October 12.

• This study examines the association between TV watching and paying attention to TV commercials with buying and requesting snacks seen on commercials, and eating snacks while watching TV among youth in China.

Pfeffer, K.,& Orum, J. (2009). Risk and injury portrayal in boys' and girls' favourite television programmes. Inj Prev.,15(5), 312-316.

• To analyze the injury-related content of children's television programmes preferred by boys and by girls, and to determine whether there are more televised models of unsafe behaviour in programmes preferred by boys.

Skoric, M.M., Teo, L.L.C. & Neo, R.L. (2009). Children and video games: Addiction, engagement, and scholastic achievement. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(5), 567-572.

• The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between video gaming habits and elementary school students' academic performance.

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

Research Toolbox: Upcoming Conferences

Save the dates! To help you keep track of conferences, here is a list of upcoming events that may be of interest:

Conferences  Updated!

• National Communication Association, 95th Annual Convention, November 12-15, 2009, Chicago, Illinois.

• Modern Brains: Enhancing Memory and Performance in This Distracting Digital Age, November 20–22, 2009, Boston, MA.

• Children, Youth and Media Conference 2009, November 19, 2009, Toronto, Canada.

• Excellence in Paediatrics,  December 3-6, 2009, Florence, Italy.

• Consuming Kids Summit - Market Values, Human Values, and the Lives of Children, April 8-10, 2010, Boston, MA.

• World Summit on Media for Children and Youth, June 14-18, 2010, Karlstad, Sweden.

• International Communication Association- Matters of Communication: Political, Cultural and Technological Changes, June 22-26, 2010, Singapore.

Call for Papers

• 2010 International Communication Association- Children, Adolescent and media session papers submission to Amy Jordan by November 6, 2009.

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies- October 9, 2009

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

de Bruijn, G.J. & van den Putte, B. (2009). Adolescent soft drink consumption, television viewing and habit strength: Investigating clustering effects in the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Appetite, 53(1), 66-75.

• This study explores adolescent soft drink consumption, television viewing and habit strength

Ko, C.H., Yen, J.Y., Chen, C.S.,  Yeh, Y.C., & Yen, C.F. (2009). Predictive values of psychiatric symptoms for Internet addiction in adolescents: A 2-Year Prospective Study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 163(10),937-943.

• This study sets out to evaluate the predictive values of psychiatric symptoms for the occurrence of Internet addiction and to determine the sex differences in the predictive value of psychiatric symptoms for the occurrence of Internet addiction in adolescents.

Montgomery, K.C. &  Chester, J. (2009). Interactive food and beverage aarketing: Targeting adolescents in the Digital Age. Journal of Adolescent Health, 45(3)Supplement 1, S18-S29.

• This study explores how major food and beverage companies,  have incorporated features of interactive media elements into their interactive marketing strategies, posing particular risks to adolescents.

Notten, N. & Kraaykamp, G. (2009). Parents and the media: A study of social differentiation in parental media socialization. Poetics, 37(3),185-200.

• The authors analyzed the effects of parental social background and family composition on various types of parental media socialization.

Wight, V.R., Price, J.,  Bianchi, S.M. &  Bijou R. Hunt, B.R. (2009). The time use of teenagers. Social Science Research, 38(4),792-809.

• This paper uses American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data to describe the time use of teenagers ages 15–17, with a focus on activities that may affect teenagers’ well-being such as sleep, eating, schoolwork, and selected leisure activities.

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

Research Toolbox: New Journal on Media Literacy Education

Check out this recently launched journal sponsored by the National Association for Media Literacy Education. Here's more information:

The Journal of Media Literacy Education is an online interdisciplinary journal that supports the development of research, scholarship and the pedagogy of media literacy education. Some of the topics in the latest issue include:

• Measuring the Effects of a Media Literacy Program on Conflict and Violence
• Surveying Parent Mediation
• Teaching Media Literacy in Less Than an Hour
• Obtaining, Processing, and Constructing English: Blogging in the ESL Classroom
• The Past, Present, and Future of Media Literacy Educational

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies- October 2, 2009

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

Custers, K. & Van den Bulck, J. (2009).Television viewing, computer game play and book reading during meals are predictors of meal skipping in a cross-sectional sample of 12-, 14- and 16-year-olds. Public Health Nutr., Available Online September 22.

• This study sets out to examine whether television viewing, computer game playing or book reading during meals predicts meal skipping with the aim of watching television, playing computer games or reading books (media meal skipping).

Didden, R. et al. (2009). Cyberbullying among students with intellectual and developmental disability in special education settings. Dev Neurorehabil., 12(3), 146-51.

• This study sets out to explore the types, prevalence and associated variables of cyberbullying among students with intellectual and developmental disability attending special education settings.

Papastergiou, M. (2009). Exploring the potential of computer and video games for health and physical education: A literature review. Computers & Education, 53(3), 603-622.

• This study aims at critically reviewing recently published scientific literature on the use of computer and video games in Health Education and Physical Education with the main goal to identifying the potential contribution of the incorporation of electronic games as educational tools.

Smith, R.C. &  Geller, E. S. (2009). Marketing and alcohol-related traffic fatalities: Impact of alcohol advertising targeting minors. Journal of Safety Research, Available online 12 September.

• This study explores how youth drinking and drink-driving behaviors rates are affected by alcohol advertisements targeting youth.

Thompson,  D. et al. (2009). Boy Scout 5-a-day badge: Outcome results of a troop and Internet intervention. Preventive Medicine, Available online 16 September.

• This study evaluated a weekly meeting and internet program aimed at improving fruit juice and low-fat vegetable consumption.

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