Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies-March 26

Check out these recently published studies on children, media, and health which explore a range of topics:

Brown, J.E., Broom, D.H., Nicholson, J.M., Bittman, M. (2010). Do working mothers raise couch potato kids? Maternal employment and children's lifestyle behaviours and weight in early childhood. Soc Sci Med., Available Online Feb 20.

• The research reported here used two waves of data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children to investigate whether mothers' hours in paid work shape young children's television viewing, snacking and physical activity, and through those lifestyle behaviours, children's weight at ages 4-5 years and 6-7 years.

Germain,  D.Wakefield,  M.A., & Durkin, S.J. (2010). Adolescents' perceptions of cigarette brand image: Does plain packaging make a difference? Journal of Adolescent Health, 46 (4), 385-392.

• This study examines the effect of plain packaging on adolescents' perceptions of cigarette packs, attributes of smokers, and expectations of cigarette taste, and to identify the effect of increasing the size of pictorial health warnings on appraisal of plain packs.

Holtz, P. &  Appel, M.  (2010). Internet use and video gaming predict problem behavior in early adolescence.  J Adolesc., Available Online Mar 18.

• In early adolescence, the time spent using the Internet and video games is higher than in any other present-day age group. Due to age-inappropriate web and gaming content, the impact of new media use on teenagers is a matter of public and scientific concern. Based on current theories on inappropriate media use, a study was conducted that comprised 205 adolescents aged 10–14 years.

Koordeman, R., Anschutz, D.J., van Baaren, R.B. & Engels, R.C. (2010). Exposure to soda commercials affects sugar-sweetened soda consumption in young women: An observational experimental study. Appetite, Available Online Mar 14.

• The present study examines the direct effects of television commercials advertising soda on actual sugar-sweetened soda consumption among young women.

Shmueli, D., Prochaska, J.J., & Glantz, S.A. (2010). Effect of smoking scenes in films on immediate smoking: A Randomized controlled study. Am J Prev Med., 38(4), 351-358.

• This study investigated whether exposure of young adult smokers to images of smoking in films stimulated smoking behavior.

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