Center on Media and Child Health

Research Wrap-Up: Recently Published Studies-January 13

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

Anderson, L. M. & Anderson, J. (2010). Barney and breakfast: Messages about food and eating in preschool television shows and how they may impact the development of eating behaviours in children. Early Child Development and Care,180(10), 1323-1336.

• This study  found that non-nutritious foods  that appear in preschool children’s television shows are as common as nutritious foods and the consumption of non-nutritious food is usually reinforced.

Becker et al. (2011). Social network media exposure and adolescent eating pathology in Fiji. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 198(1),43-50

• The authors found that social network media exposure was associated with eating pathology in this group of adolescent female ethnic Fijians.

Jordan, A.; Bleakley, A.; Manganello, J; Hennessy, M.; Steven,  R., & Fishbein, M. (2010). The role of television access in the viewing time of US adolescents. Journal of Children and Media,  4(4), 355-370.

• The authors found that for adolescents having greater access to TV (number of televisions in the home, having a bedroom TV, and subscribing to premium cable/satellite channels)  was significantly associated with increased television viewing time.

Mendelsohn, A.L., Dreyer, B.P. ; Brockmeyer, C.A.; Berkule-Silberman, S.B.; Huberman, H.S. & Tomopoulos, S.(2011). Randomized controlled trial of primary care pediatric parenting programs: Effect on reduced media exposure in infants, mediated through enhanced parent-child interaction. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med., 165(1), 42-48.

• This study found that exposure to Video Interaction Project intervention was associated with reduced total duration of media exposure compared with other interventions and control groups. Enhanced parent-child interactions were found to partially mediate relations between VIP and media exposure for families with a ninth grade or higher literacy level .

Sandberg, H.; Gidlof, K. & Holmberg, N.(2011). Children's exposure to and perceptions of online advertising. International Journal of Communication, 5, 21-50.

• The study results suggest that Swedish teenagers are exposed to 10% of all the potential advertisements, but they are mainly unaware of this actual exposure. Food advertisements had the highest impact. FULL TEXT.

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

Research Toolbox: Media Literacy Resources

What’s Media Literacy?

Media literacy is the ability to understand how mass media works and media literacy education is the approach to protect children and adolescents from the unhealthy effects of media by giving them tools to think critically about messages in the media. Media literacy is also about engaging young people in creating media so that they begin to understand and appreciate how producers use specific techniques to influence the audience.

Here's a list of media literacy organizations and resources:

Media Literacy- Definition

• What is Media Literacy? by Media Awareness Network

• Key Facts-Media Literacy by Kaiser Family Foundation 

• What is Media Literacy? A Definition...and More by Center on Media Literacy

Media Literacy Organizations

• The Center for Media Literacy is an educational organization that provides leadership, public education, professional development and educational resources nationally.
  

• Media Awareness Network is a Canadian group with a wealth of information for parents.  In English and French. 

• Media Literacy Clearinghouse: An internationally recognized website for K-12 educators.

• National Association of Media Literacy Education is a national membership organization dedicated to advancing the field of media literacy education in the United States.

• The Media Education Foundation produces and distributes documentary films and other educational resources to inspire critical reflection on the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media.

• iKeepSafe-C3 Matrix helps educators integrate the essentials of cyber-safety, cyber-security, and cyber-ethics (C3 concepts) into existing technology and literacy standards and curricula.

• Gateway Media Literacy Partners aims to attract individuals, organizations and institutions who as community citizens strongly believe media literacy is a democracy skill, is a survival skill and a nexus for change, vital to developing critical thinking, and media literacy empowers citizens to make intelligent and healthy choices throughout their lifetime.

Media Literacy Journals

• Journal of Media Literacy Education

• The Journal of Media Literacy

Media Literacy Reports

• Digital World of Young Children: Impact of Emergent Literacy - research white paper from the Pearson Foundation on the effects of digital media on young children’s learning.

• Cable in the Classroom-reports and briefs about media literacy in the classroom

Research Toolbox: Children and Media Newsletters from Around the World

Check out these children and media newsletters from around the world:

• Media Health Matters by the Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH)

This quarterly e-newsletter from the Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH) offers news, tools, and tips that can help families make informed media choices. Click here to subscribe.

• Small Screen by Young Media Australia

Published by Young Media Australia, small screen is a unique monthly review of the latest events, press clippings, new and proposed legislation changes, seminars and conferences, publications, and research into the effects of films, television, video games and new media on children.

• Newsletter on Children, Youth and Media in the World by the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media

The newsletter contains brief articles, news items, presentation of new literature and ongoing research projects from different parts of the world. The publication addresses researchers, policymakers, media professionals, teachers, voluntary organizations and interested individuals worldwide.The newsletter is published twice a year on the Internet only, in April/May and November/December.

• Medea Awards Newsletter

The MEDEA Awards encourages innovation and good practice in the use of media (audio, video, graphics and animation) in education. The Awards also recognize and promote excellence in the production and pedagogical design of media-rich learning resources. Click here to subscribe.

• The Drum Beat by the Communication Initiative

This is a weekly electronic newsletter featuring summarized information related to communication as a fundamental tool for economic and social development and change included on the Communication Initiative website. Click here to subscribe.

Research Toolbox: New Journal on Emerging Media and Learning

Check out this new journal published by the MIT Press:

The International Journal of Learning and Media focus on emerging forms of media and learning and provides an international forum for scholars, researchers and practitioners to explore the relationship between emerging forms of media and learning, in a variety of forms and settings.

The first issue is now available online for free. Some of the topics in that issue include:

• Why Virtual Worlds Can Matter
• Games and Learning: What's the Connection?
• A Developmental Lens for Designing Virtual Worlds for Children and Youth

 

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

Using Media to Show Instead of Tell

Last week, we blogged about an op-ed on photo retouching and body image by filmmaker Jesse Epstein.  Here, Jesse joins us as a guest blogger to expand upon the educational efforts she is working on. 

I spent my formative childhood years in Mozambique Africa, where full bodies and “child bearing hips” were celebrated. When I returned to the US as a pre-teen I was confused to find my friends obsessed with their weight, counting calories, and saying that they “hated their thighs”. I admired their magazine collages of models with flat bellies and joined my peers in the fight to stay slim. But this post isn’t just about my personal story, it’s about a public health issue.

People living in media-saturated cultures are exposed to hundreds of idealized images per day through advertising and magazines; almost all of which have been altered to perfection.  According to a magazine photo re-toucher I interviewed,

“Every picture has been worked on some twenty to thirty rounds, going back between the re-touchers and the agencies and the clients – they have been perfected to death. Just look at the magazines, and all that is there to alter your mind, alter your perception of what physical beauty is, and what the means of obtaining it are.” 

When even the models and actors themselves don’t “measure up” to their own perfected images, it is crucial for people to understand how images are constructed, and what massages they are sending. Providing the tools to examine these media messages, through Media Literacy, is pivotal at this point in time.

Many problems and poor choices, especially among teens and pre-teens, can be traced to poor self-esteem and the inability to reach an unrealizable ideal. These may include the decision to smoke, participate in unsafe sex and early sexual initiation, academic failure, and other very risky, often life-threatening, behaviors.

I strive, through the power of film, to tell stories than can show rather than tell. While mass media is often pegged as a culprit of social ills, it can also play a key role in education toward behavioral change.  So, I’m currently creating a series of films on media and physical perfection to be used as powerful public health tools –- to start often-difficult discussions, raise consciousness, and ultimately empower youth to make healthy choices.  I hope they are used by as many educators as possible.

34x25x36 - A documentary about mannequins and perfection.

Wet Dreams and False Images - Interviews with photo re-touchers expose how much alteration goes on before an ad is released.

The Guarantee - A dancer's story about his prominent nose and the effect it has on his career.

More information about Jesse's work:

>> Jesse's website

>> New Day Films

 

 

Achieving Perfect Beauty with an Airbrush

Filmmaker Jesse Epstein recently published a video Op-Ed on the New York Times website.  This behind-the-scenes talk with real photo retouchers explores how pervasive this practice is within the beauty industry, and how it affects people's perceptions of their own beauty. 

In the video she mentions a 2007 study which found that just 3 minutes of looking at fashion magazines reduced college women's self-esteem.

So how can we protect the self-esteem of the young people we know?  By teaching them how photos are altered, they can begin to see how many media images are not representations of reality.  See our previous post on other examples of photo retouching and share them with a young person you know. 

Hint: Seeing videos like these, that look "behind-the-scenes", make young people feel empowered; now they know what's really going on and they won't be fooled again...

What I Learned at the CCFC Summit

On Friday, I presented at the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood's Annual Summit.  My talk about research on media and sex was well-attended and lead to some great discussion among participants. 

I wanted to post about a few resources I became aware of through the Summit and pass them on to CMCH blog readers, since you may also be interested:

• Sarah Grimes, a PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University, presented her work on interactive websites and Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) for kids.  Turns out she has a blog about digital games and other technologies for children: Gamine Expedition
• In the main gathering area, there was an exhibit titled "Buy Me Something" by the talented photographer Nat Ward, who aims for these images to "challenge people to consider how toys and the mechanisms that facilitate their sale inform and reproduce a distinct set of culturally-defined values."  Click the arrow on the bottom right to see more images:  Buy Me Something
• The Media Education Foundation has a new video coming out in Fall 2008 about the commercialization of childhood.  CMCH Director Dr. Michael Rich makes an appearance around minute 3:37 in the trailer they previewed at the Summit: Consuming Kids

 

4th Grade Peace Wall Includes Non-Violent Media

Over April vacation, teacher Kathy Jenkins watched the news about the Virginia Tech shooting and knew that her 4th grade students would be talking about it when they returned to school.  She came up with the concept of a "Wall of Peace" where students could creatively express their reactions to the shooting and develop plans for non-violence. 

One component of the Wall of Peace was a series of lists of non-violent media:

• Non-violent video games
• Non-violent movies
• Non-violent songs

What did the kids think of the project?

Our learning from the Peace Wall will guide us through a non-violent life, and we can all teach peace. The bottom line is that we are helping people understand peace, help live a life without violence, and show that even kids can represent peace.

Kathy Jenkins has taken an important step in media literacy by encouraging her students to think about the violence they see and hear in popular culture.

• Learn more about media literacy
• See ideas for other media literacy lesson plans

Guest Blogger: Media Literacy in K-12 Schools

The following was written by Guest Blogger Frank Baker, a Media Education Consultant:

A few weeks back, while speaking to an elementary school about the influence of toy advertising, a fifth-grader raised her hand and asked: "Mr. Baker, what does deceptive mean?"  I had used that adjective to describe specific techniques used by the people who create commercial messages. I went on to define it for her and urged her teachers to add that word to their ever-growing vocabulary list.

The techniques of persuasion in advertising are just one element in teaching media literacy to our young people. In 1999, in a partnership with Rutgers University media professor Robert Kubey, we scoured all 50 state's teaching standards, finding elements of media literacy in three major curriculum areas: English/Language Arts, Social Studies/History, and Health.

The good news is that elements of media literacy are in most states' standards. The bad news is that media literacy is not being taught. Most teachers have not received any formal training in how to integrate critical thinking and viewing about media messages. Most school libraries have little in the way of texts for teachers or students.

The media are attractive to young people; they watch, listen to, and even wear media. Yet, the American education system is, for the most part, blind to the fact that media are languages which need to be taught and understood too.  For those who want to know more, I hope you will log onto the Media Literacy Clearinghouse website.

• Visit the website Media Literacy Clearinghouse
• Contact Frank
• Contact CMCH about being a Guest Blogger