Center on Media and Child Health

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies-May 25

New published studies on children, media, and health which explore a range of topics:

Keller, S.K. &  Schulz, P.J. (2010). Distorted food pyramid in kids programmes: A content analysis of television advertising watched in Switzerland. Eur J Public Health, Available May 16.

• The results of this study suggest that food advertising contributes to the obesity problem: every fourth advertisement is for food, half of them for products high in sugar and fat and hardly any for fruit or vegetables.

McKee, M.D., Maher, S., Deen, D. & Blank, A.E.(2010). Counseling to prevent obesity among preschool children: Acceptability of a pilot urban primary care intervention. Annals of Family Medicine, 8, 249-255.

• The study revealed that parents welcome efforts to address family lifestyle change and counseling to prevent childhood obesity in pediatric visits.

Pérez-Salgado, D., Rivera-Márquez, J.A., & Ortiz-Hernández, L. (2010) [Food advertising in Mexican television: are children more exposed?] Salud Publica Mex. 52(2), 119-126. Article in Spanish.

• The findings of this research indicate the need for an effective system to regulate food advertisements on broadcast television channels directed towards children and adolescents.

Valckea, M., Bontea, S., De Wevera, B., &  Rotsa, I. (2010). Internet parenting styles and the impact on Internet use of primary school. Computers & Education, 55(2), 454-464.

• This study revealed that Internet parenting style, parent  Internet behavior, and parent educational background significantly predict Internet usage of children at home.

Wartella E., Richert, R.A. & Robb. M.B. (2010). Babies, television and videos: How did we get here? Developmental Review, Available online 17 April.

• The authors argued that exposure to screen media media may fundamentally change the nature of babies' brain development.

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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

• Children’s TV in the Arab World, University of Westminster, London, England, June 4, 2010.

• European Distance and e-learning Network- Media Inspiration for Learning, Valencia, Spain,
  June 9-12, 2010.

• Diverse 2010, Portland, Maine, July 6-8, 2010.

• 21st Century Media Literacy Summer Institute 2010, Ithaca, NY. July 12-16.

• Future and Reality of Gaming (F.R.O.G. 2010), 4th Vienna Games Conference. Vienna, Austria, September 24 -26.

• DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media, Toronto, Canada, 12-14 November, 2010. 

• Media Literacy Conference, London, England, November 19-20, 2010.

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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-May 18

New published studies on children, media, and health which explore a range of topics:

Chia, S.C.(2010). How social Influence mediates media effects on adolescents’ materialism. Communication Research, 37(3), 400-419

• Study results showed that an adolescent’s exposure to advertising was both directly and indirectly associated with his or her materialistic values.

Custers, K. & Van den Bulck, J. (2010). 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., 13(4),537-543.

• This study found that the use of media (TV, computer)  during meals predicts meal skipping for using that same medium. The more meals the respondents ate with the entire family, the less likely they were to skip meals to watch television.

Helsper, E.J. (2010). Gendered Internet use across generations and life stages. Communication Research, 37(3), 352-374.

• The study findings suggest that gender differences vary for different life stages related to occupation and marital status, especially for male uses.

Toma, C.L. &  Hancock. J.T. (2010). Looks and lies: The role of physical attractiveness in online dating self-presentation and deception. Communication Research, 37(3), 335-351.

• Results show that the lower online daters’ attractiveness, the more likely they were to enhance their profile photographs and lie about their physical descriptors (height, weight, age).

Weis, R. & Cerankosky, B.C. (2010). Effects of video-game ownership on young boys' academic and behavioral functioning: a randomized, controlled study.  Psychol Sci., 21(4), 463-70.

• This study shows evidence that video games may displace after-school activities that have educational value and may interfere with the development of reading and writing skills in some children.

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

Research Toolbox: Acronyms and Terms Finder

Not sure whether CSA stands for Chemical Society Association or Council for Scottish Archaeology? Acronyms and terms are commonly used in research writing, and their meanings can be difficult to find. If you are lost in an alphabet soup of acronyms, abbreviations, and terms, try these online tools to help you navigate:

General Acronyms: 

• Acronyma: An internet search engine of acronyms and abbreviations spells out acronyms in seven different languages.

• Acronym Finder: A searchable database of more than 4 million acronyms and abbreviations and their meanings. Focuses on computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military.

• Abreviations: A directory of acronyms & abbreviations. Includes journal abbreviations.

Government Acronyms:

• GovSpeak-A Guide to Government Acronyms & Abbreviations

Medical and Health Acronyms and Terms:

• Acronyms and Initialisms for Health Information Resources- Acronyms for global information and data resources in health, medical, and veterinary sciences.  Linked acronyms point to selected related Web sites. 

• American Academy of Pediatrics Acronyms- List of acronyms commonly used in pediatric literature.

• Dictionary of Cancer Terms - Offers over 4,000 definitions and explanations of cancer terms and offers searches by entering the first few letters of a term or letters that may be contained in the term. Site is sponsored by the  National Cancer Institute. 

• GeneTests.org Glossary - Offers definitions, further links, and some case examples for most genetic terms. Aimed at health professionals, but may be very helpful for families also.

• Genetics Home Reference Glossary - An extensive list of genetic terms with definitions, compiled from other sources. Site is sponsored by the National Library of Medicine.

• Human Genome Acronym List- List of  acronyms associated with the Human Genome project, a project which identified all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA and determined  the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA.

• MedlinePlus Medical Dictionary - Offers a comprehensive dictionary of medical terms, including many acronyms. It is particularly good at helping when you are not sure how to spell a word.

• Medical Library Association  Style Guide  for Abbreviations- Acronyms and initialisms used in MLA publications.

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies- May 11

New published studies on children, media, and health which explore a range of topics:

Barr, R.,  Shuck, L., Salerno, K., Atkinson, E., & Linebarger, D.L.(2010). Music interferes with learning from television during infancy. Infant and Child Development, 19(3), 313-331

• The authors concluded that music soundtrack creates additional cognitive load and disrupts selective infant’s attention to the target actions and inhibits transfer of learning from television of the imitation task.

Culp, J. Bell, R.A. & Cassady, D. (2010). Characteristics of food industry web sites and "advergames" targeting children. J Nutr Educ Behav. 42(3), 197-201.

• The authors found that food companies use Web sites to extend their television advertising to promote brand loyalty among children. These sites almost exclusively promoted food items high in sugar and fat.

Muldera, J., Bogtb,  T., Raaijmakersc, Q.A.W., Gabhainnd,  S.N., Monshouwere, K., & Volleberghb, W.A.M. (2010). Is it the music? Peer substance use as a mediator of the link between music preferences and adolescent substance use. Journal of Adolescence, 33(3),387-394.

• This study found that music can model substance use and fans of different types of music may select friends with use patterns that reinforce their own substance use inclinations.

Pagani, L.S, Fitzpatrick, C.,  Barnett, T.A., & Dubow, E. (2010). Prospective associations between early childhood television exposure and academic, psychosocial, and physical well-being by middle childhood. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 164(5), 425-431.

• The results of this study revealed that for every additional hour of TV exposure at 29 months corresponded to decreases in classroom engagement and math achievement as well as increases in victimization by classmates, physical inactivity, and consumption of soft drinks and snacks.

Werner, N.E., Bumpus, M.F., &  Rock, D.(2010). Involvement in Internet aggression during early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39(6), 607-619.

• The study results indicated that youth who were aggressive both online and offline were older at the initial assessment, were targets of Internet aggression, and held beliefs more supportive of relational aggression than youth who were aggressive offline only.

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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

Recently published titles of interest on the topics of children, media, and health:

New Books

• Children, Media and Culture by Maire Messenger Davies

This book addresses the continuing concerns around media 'effects' and critically examines the view that technology has dramatically changed modern children's lives. 

• Mashup Cultures by Sonvilla-Weiss & Stefan (Eds.)

This volume brings together scholars together with young researchers and students, proposing a colorful spectrum of media-theoretical, practical and educational approaches to current creative practices and techniques of production and consumption on and off the web.

• Sells like Teen Spirit: Music, Youth Culture, and Social Crisis By Ryan Moore

The author tells the story of how music and youth culture have changed along with the economic, political, and cultural transformations of American society in the last four decades.

• Television News, Politics and Young People: Generation Disconnected? by Mike Wayne, Julian Petley, Craig Murray & Lesley Henderson.

The authors explore the representation of young people and politics on television news and suggest that there are links between these representations and why young people are turned off news programming.

• Understanding Computer Game Culture: the Cultural Shaping of a New Medium by Jan Van Looy

This book looks at the theoretical challenges and foundations on which to base a cultural shaping approach towards the evolution of video games and proposes a set of concepts for analyzing and describing this process.

• Youth, Society and Mobile Media in Asia by Stephanie Hemelryk Donald, Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson&  Damien Spry (Eds.)

This book examines the influence of mobile media technology on the lives of young people in East and North Asia, South East Asia and Australia. It discusses the impact information communication technologies have today on social identity, well-being, participation and exclusion.

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Please let us know if you would like to see any books highlighted in the future!