Center on Media and Child Health

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies-February 26

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

Dooley, J.D., Deshpande, S., & Adair, C.E. (2010). Comparing adolescent-focused obesity prevention and reduction messages. Journal of Business Research, 63(2), 154-160.

• This study tests the effects of adolescent-targeted obesity prevention messages (body-image, health benefit) with positive experience and unrelated messages on health behavior intentions and unintended effects.

Golomb MR, et al. (2010). In-home virtual reality videogame telerehabilitation in adolescents with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 91(1), 1-8.

• This study investigates whether in-home remotely monitored virtual reality video game-based tele-rehabilitation in adolescents with hemiplegic cerebral palsy can improve hand function and forearm bone health, and demonstrate alterations in motor circuitry activation.

Marsh, L., McGee, R., Nada-Raja, S., & Williams, S.(2010) Brief report: Text bullying and traditional bullying among New Zealand secondary school students. Journal of Adolescence, 33(1), 237-240.

• This descriptive study examined text and traditional bullying in New Zealand, and the relationship between text bullying and traditional bullying, and feeling unsafe at school.

Marsh, J. (2010). Young children’s play in online virtual worlds. Journal of Early Childhood Research,  8 (1), 23-39

• The author explores the tensions surrounding the relationship between play and technology and relates it to similar discourses concerning the concepts of ‘real’ and ‘virtual’. She also considers the growing popularity of virtual worlds with young children and examines the way in which the worlds have been marketed to children and parents/carers on the basis of their propensity to offer online play in a safe environment.

van Rooij, A.J., Schoenmakers,T.M., van de Eijnden,  R. J., &  van de Mheen, D. (2010). Compulsive Internet use: The role of online gaming and other Internet applications. Journal of Adolescent Health,  Available online 11 February.

• This study explores the relationship between time spent on various Internet applications (including online gaming) and Compulsive Internet Use in a large sample of adolescents.

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

Research Toolbox: New Book on Children and Television

Professor Dafna Lemish, editor of the Journal of Children and Media, incoming Chair of the Department of Radio-Television in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts at Southern Illinois University, and visiting scholar at CMCH, has published a new book, Screening Gender on Children’s Television: The Views of Producers Around the World (Routledge, 2010).

The book offers readers insights into the transformations taking place in the presentation of gender portrayals in television productions aimed at younger audiences. It goes far beyond a critical analysis of the existing portrayals of gender and culture by sharing media professionals’ action-oriented recommendations for change that would promote gender equity, social diversity and the well-being of children.

Incorporating interviews with 135 producers of children’s television from 65 countries, this book discusses the role television plays in the lives of young people and, more specifically, in developing gender identity. It examines how gender images presented to children on television are intertwined with important existential and cultural concerns that occupy the social agenda worldwide, including the promotion of education for girls, prevention of HIV/AIDS and domestic violence, and caring for “neglected” boys who lack healthy masculine role models, as well as confronting the pressures of the beauty myth.

The book also explores how children’s television producers struggle to portray issues such as sex/sexuality and the preservation of local cultures in a profit-driven market which continually strives to reinforce gender segregation. The book documents proactive attempts by producers to advance social change, illustrating how television can serve to provide positive, empowering images for children around the world.

Learn more about Professor Lemish’s research exploring the role of media in children's lives.

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies- February 19

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

Conti-Ramsden, G., Durkin, K., & Simkin Z. (2010). Language and social factors in the use of cell phone technology by adolescents with and without specific language impairment (SLI). J Speech Lang Hear Res. 53(1), 196-208.

• This study aimed to compare cell phone use (both oral and text-based) by adolescents with and without specific language impairment (SLI) and examine the extent to which language and social factors affect frequency of use.

Linkletter, M., Gordon, M., &  Dooley, J.(2010).The choking game and YouTube: A dangerous combination. Clin Pediatr. 49(3), 274-279.

• This study aims to examine postings of partial asphyxiation by adolescents on YouTube and increase awareness of this dangerous activity as well as the value of YouTube as a research tool.

Milde-Busch, A., von Kries, R., Thomas, S., Heinrich, S., Straube, A., & Radon K.(2010).The association between use of electronic media and prevalence of headache in adolescents: results from a population-based cross-sectional study. BMC Neurol. 10(1), 12. 

• The aim of the present study was to assess associations between frequent use of electronic media and the prevalence of different types of headache in adolescents.

Seehagen, S., & Herbert, J.S. (2010). The role of demonstrator familiarity and language cues on infant imitation from television. Infant Behav Dev. Available Online February 5.

• This study used an imitation procedure to investigate the impact of demonstrator familiarity and language cues on infant learning from television.

van Heerden, A. C., Norris, S. A.,  &  Richter, L.M. (2010). Using mobile phones for adolescent research in low and middle income countries: Preliminary findings from the birth to twenty cohort, South Africa. Journal of Adolescent Health, 46(3), 302-304.

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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 relevant conferences and events, here is a list of upcoming conferences from around the world that may be of interest.

Conferences

• 2010 Annual Forum for Improving Children’s Healthcare and Childhood Obesity Congress, March 8-11, Atlanta, GA.

• Australian Conference on Children & the Media, March 19, Sydney, Australia.

• Drug Free Pennsylvania's 3rd Annual Media Literacy Conference, March 25-26, Harrisburg, PA.

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

• Eastern Communication Association Annual Convention, April 22-25, Baltimore, MD

• World Summit for Children and Media, June 14-18, Karlastad, Sweden.

• 2010 Game Education Summit USA, June 15-16, Los Angeles, CA.

• European Communication Conference (ECREA). Check out the list for Call for Papers, October 12-15, Hamburg, Germany. 

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Let us know if you know about any conference or event of interest that you would like us to post.

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies-February 12

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

Anderson, S.E., & Whitaker, R.C.(2010). Household routines and obesity in US preschool-aged children. Pediatrics, Published Online February 8.

• This study attempts to determine the association between the prevalence of obesity in preschool-aged children and exposure to 3 household routines: regularly eating the evening meal as a family, obtaining adequate sleep, and limiting screen-viewing time.

Bierwirth, K.P., &  Blumberg, F.C.(2010). Preschoolers' judgments regarding realistic and cartoon-based moral transgressions in the US. Journal of Children and Media, 4(1), 39-58.

• This study was designed to evaluate young children's informational assumptions about realistic and cartoon-based moral transgressions.

Bravender, T., Russell, A., Chung, R. J. & Armstrong, S.C.(2010) A "novel" intervention: A pilot study of children's literature and healthy lifestyles. Pediatrics, Published online February 8.

• This study attempts to determine if reading an age-appropriate novel has the potential to improve BMI percentile and exercise- and nutrition-related knowledge and behaviors in girls aged 9 to 13 years who were enrolled in a childhood obesity-treatment program.

Chung, P.J et al.(2010). Association between adolescent viewership and alcohol advertising on cable television. American Journal of Public Health, 100(3), 555-562.

• The authors examined whether alcohol advertising on cable television is associated with adolescent viewership.

Sutherland, L.A., MacKenzie,T., Purvis, L.A., & Dalton, M. (2010). Prevalence of food and beverage brands in movies: 1996–2005. Pediatrics. Published online February 8.

• The objective of this study was to describe food and beverage brand placements in a large representative sample of popular movies.

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

Research Toolbox: Media Multitasking Research

Media multitasking—using more than one media activity at a time—has become prevalent in children’s lives. What is the impact of media multitasking on children’s learning, development and health?

To help advance understanding and research about media multitasking, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop just made available a seminar report, The Impacts of Media Multitasking on Children’s Learning & Development. This report describes the current state of knowledge on media multitasking highlighted by leading scholars and industry leaders as it relates to cognitive development and learning in children.

According to the report, some of the current research needs are:

• need to define definitions and common vocabulary.
• need to create a multidisciplinary academic field, which encompassed the fields of child development and learning (formal and informal).
• need for development of new tools and research methodologies.
• need to set research priorities.

Resources on Media Multitasking

• Digital Nation

In Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier, FRONTLINE presents an in-depth exploration of what it means to be human in a 21st-century digital world.

• Ulla G. Foehr (2006). Media Multitasking among American Youth: Prevalence, Predictors, and Pairings. Kaiser Family Foundation.

This Kaiser Family Foundation Report presents the key findings explore how pervasive media multitasking is among young people, potential cognitive and social development implications, and which teens are most likely to multitask.

• Media Multitaksing website at Standford University

This is the website for the Media Multitasking Project, with information about the project's background.

• CMCH Database of Research

Database of scientific research on children and media effects from the Center on Media and Child Health.

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies-February 5

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

Courage, M.L., Murphy, A.N., Goulding, S., & Setliff, A.E. (2010). When the television is on: The impact of infant-directed video on 6- and 18-month-olds' attention during toy play and on parent-infant interaction. Infant Behav Dev. Available online January 26.

• This study examined the pattern of a group of infants' and their parents' attention to toys, a commercially available infant-directed video, and each other in a 20min free-play context as a function of whether the television was on or off.

Pechmann, C., & Wang, L. (2010). Effects of directly and indirectly competing reference group messages and persuasion knowledge: Implications for educational placements. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(1), 134-145.

• Two experiments, conducted among 2850 adolescents, test versions of a real television program with an antismoking educational placement against a control.

Tandon, P. S., J. Wright, et al. (2010). Nutrition menu labeling may lead to lower-calorie restaurant meal choices for children. Pediatrics, 125(2), 244-248.

• The aim of this study was to determine whether nutrition labeling on restaurant menus would lead to lower-calorie choices for children.

Thompson, D.A., Sibinga, E.M., Jennings, J.M., Bair-Merritt, M. H., & Christakis, D.A. (2010). Television viewing by young Hispanic children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med., 164(2), 174-179.

• This study aims to determine if hours of daily television viewed by varying age groups of young children with Hispanic mothers differs by maternal language preference and to compare these differences with young children with white mothers.

Tongren, J.E., Sites, A., Zwickerb, K., & Pelletier, A. (2010). Injury-prevention practices as depicted in G- and PG-rated movies, 2003–2007. Pediatrics, 125(2), 290-294.

• The goal of this study was to determine if the depiction of injury-prevention practices in children's movies is different from what was reported from 2 earlier studies, which showed infrequent depiction of characters practicing recommended safety behaviors.

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

Research Toolbox: Recently Published Books

Here is a list of recently published titles of interest on the topics of children, media, and health:

New Titles

• Feminism, Inc.:Coming of age in girl power media culture by Emilie Zaslow

This book offers a rich account of the ways in which teen girls understand style, sexuality, motherhood, and feminism in girl power media culture.

• Screening Generation X: The politics and popular memory of youth in contemporary cinema by Christina Lee

This book examines popular representations of Generation X in American and British film.

• Watching TV is not required: Thinking about media and thinking about thinking by Bernard McGrane & John Gunderson

This book introduces the readers to the social construction of reality embedded in the experience of TV.

• Youth engaging with the world:  Media, communication and social change, eds: Thomas Tufte &  Florencia Enghel

This book focuses on youth as a generation of actors and citizens who are increasingly exposed to and making use of media/ICT for entertainment and informational purposes, for social networking and mobilization, and for knowledge sharing.

Forthcoming Titles

• Creating preschool television:  A story of commerce, creativity and curriculum by Jeanette Steemers

Focusing on experience in Britain and the US, this book explains how the preschool television sector has shifted from an essentially small localized and economically restricted industry to become a much more complex, commercially-driven global business. 

• Gendering children's television: A view from producers around the world by Dafna Lemish

This book offers readers insights into the transformations taking place in the presentation of gender portrayals in television productions aimed at younger audiences. It goes far beyond a critical analysis of the existing portrayals of gender and culture by sharing media professionals’ action-oriented recommendations for change that would promote gender equity, social diversity and the wellbeing of children.

• Television news, politics and young people: Generation disconnected? by Mike Wayne, Julian Petley, Craig Murray & Lesley Henderson

Why are young people alienated from television news? This book argues that contemporary trends indicating deepening disconnection from news about public life reflect problems both with the way television news covers politics and with the nature of politics itself under neo-liberal capitalism.

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