Center on Media and Child Health

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies-July 26

Barnett, A., Cerin, E. et al. (2011). Active video games for youth: A systematic review. J Phys Act Health, 8(5): 724-737. 

• The authors found that active video games (AVGs) are capable of generating energy expenditure in youth to attain physical activity guidelines. Few studies have assessed sustainability of AVG play, which appears to diminish after a short period of time for most players. Better-quality future research must address how AVG play could be maintained over longer periods of time.

Chen, J.-L., Weiss, S., et al. (2011). The efficacy of the Web-based childhood obesity prevention program in Chinese American adolescents (Web ABC Study). Journal of Adolescent Health, 49(2): 148-154. 

• The study authors found that the intervention resulted in significant decreases in waist-to-hip ratio and diastolic blood pressure  and increases in vegetable and fruit intake, level of physical activity, and knowledge about physical activity and nutrition. This Web-based behavior program for Chinese American adolescents and their families seems feasible and effective in the short-term. 

Choi, K., J., Forster,L. et al. (2011). Prevalence of smoking in movies as perceived by teenagers: Longitudinal trends and predictors. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 41(2): 167-173. 

• This study found that teenagers' perception of the prevalence of smoking in movies declined over time, which may be attributable to  changes made by the movie industry. Despite the decline, teenagers were still exposed to a moderate amount of smoking imagery.  Interventions that further reduce teenage exposure to smoking in movies may be needed to have an effect on adolescent smoking.

Granich, J., Rosenberg, M. et al. (2011). Individual, social, and physical environment factors associated with electronic media use among children: Sedentary behavior at home. J Phys Act Health, 8(5): 613-625.

• The researchers found that 87% of participants exceeded electronic media use recommendations of ≤ 2 hrs/day. Efforts to modify children's EM use should focus on a mix of intervention strategies that address patterns and reinforcement of TV viewing, household rules limiting screen time, and the presence of EM devices in the child's bedroom.

Whiteley, L. B., Brown, L. K., et al. (2011). African American adolescents and new media: Associations with HIV/STI risk behavior and psychosocial variables. Ethn Dis, 21(2): 216-222. FULL TEXT.

• The findings from this study suggests that riskier youth are online and using cell phones frequently. The Internet and cell phones may be useful platforms for targeted health promotion and prevention efforts with African American adolescents.

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies-July 19

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

Boyland, E. J., Harrold, J. A., et al. (2011). Food commercials increase preference for energy-dense foods, particularly in children who watch more television. Pediatrics. Available online June 27. 

• This study found that exposure to television food commercials enhanced high television viewers' preferences for branded foods and increased reported preferences for all food items (branded and nonbranded) relative to the low television viewers. This is the first study to demonstrate that children with greater previous exposure to commercials (high television viewers) seemed to be more responsive to food promotion messages than children with lower previous advertising exposure.

Denniston, M. M., Swahn, M. H., et al. (2011). Associations between electronic media use and involvement in violence, acohol and drug use among United States high school students. West J Emerg Med, 12(3): 310-315.  FULL TEXT. 

• The researchers found a number of risk behaviors, including involvement in physical fights and initiation of alcohol use before age 13, were significantly associated with frequent TV use or frequent computer/video game use, even after controlling for sex, race/ethnicity and grade.

Garrison, M. M., Liekweg, K. et al. (2011). Media use and child sleep: The impact of content, timing, and environment. Pediatrics. Available online July 1. 

• The study authors found that violent content and evening media use were associated with increased sleep problems. However, no such effects were observed with nonviolent daytime media use.

Hebden, L. A., King, L. et al. (2011). Advertising of fast food to children on Australian television: The impact of industry self-regulation. Med J Aust, 195(1): 20-24. 

• This study found that children’s exposure to unhealthy fast-food advertising has not changed following the introduction of self-regulation, and some fast foods advertised for children’s consumption contain excessive energy. The limited impact of self-regulation suggests that governments should define the policy framework for regulating fast-food advertising to children.

Pearson, N. & Biddle, S. J. H. (2011). Sedentary behavior and dietary intake in children, adolescents, and adults: A systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 41(2):178-188. 

• The study authors found that the association drawn mainly from cross-sectional studies is that sedentary behavior, usually assessed as screen time and predominantly TV viewing, is associated with unhealthy dietary behaviors in children, adolescents, and adults. Interventions need to be developed that target reductions in sedentary time to test whether diet also changes.

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

Research Toolbox: CMCH Database of Research

You may have noticed the CMCH DoR (Database of Research) mentioned in our Research Wrap-Up blogs, inviting readers to find studies on children, media, and health freely available at www.cmch.tv. 

Meet the CMCH Database of Research:

The DoR is a digital “library” that collects scholarly research on how media affect the physical, social and emotional health of children. The research included in the DoR comes from many different disciplines including medicine, public health, psychology, gender studies, education and several others. 

How We build the CMCH Database of Research:

The DoR has been built and maintained by CMCH librarians who monitor dozens of academic journals and databases and use the power of social networking tools to connect with organizations and other scholars in the field. Once research is collected, the articles are indexed and assigned keywords from our specialized taxonomy on media and health. Then two kinds of abstracts are written: one for a research audience and one written in plain language. New research is constantly being added to our online database, which currently contains over 3,000 citations. 

Searching the CMCH Database of Research:

There are several ways to search the DoR including a guided search, advanced search, and browse. For more information about how to use the search features and to learn more about the DoR please refer to the article "Center on Media and Child Health Database of Research" by Isabel Lopes, MLIS  and Brandy King, MLIS in the latest issue of the Newsletter on Children, Youth, & Media in the World. 

Tell Us What You Think!

We invite our readers to provide us with comments, suggestions, and questions about the DoR. Our goal is to make the DoR a user-friendly tool, so your thoughts would be very helpful and appreciated. Also, if you know about or have written an article that you believe would be a good fit for the DoR please let us know in the comments or e-mail us at cmch@childrens.harvard.edu.