Center on Media and Child Health

Recently Added Studies on Children, Media, and Health

Take a look at some of the latest studies added to the CMCH Database!

Bleakley, A., et al. (2008). It works both ways: The relationship between exposure to sexual content in the media and adolescent sexual behavior. Media Psychology, 11(4), 443-461.

• Adolescents who are sexually active are more likely to look at media with sexual content, say the researchers.

Christison, A., & Khan, H.A. (2012). Exergaming for health: A community-based pediatric weight management program using active video gaming. Clinical Pediatrics, 51(4), 382-388.

• Community-based programs to target obesity, especially one that includes an exergame, could be effective in reducing overweight, this study says.

Lapierre, M., et al. (2011). Influence of licensed spokescharacters and health cues on children's ratings of cereal taste. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 165(3), 229-234.

• Characters can influence children's taste or distaste for breakfast cereal, whether or not the cereal is labeled as healthy or sugary, says this study.

Vandenbosch, L., & Eggermont, S. (2012). Understanding sexual objectification: A comprehensive approach toward media exposure and girls' internalization of beauty ideals, self-objectification, and body surveillance. Journal of Communication, 62(5), 869-887.

• When it comes to most forms of media, the amount consumed relates to the internalization of beauty ideals for girls, researchers determined.

As always, if you're looking for more research on children, media, and health, take a look at the CMCH Database of Research.

Connections in News, Media, and Research: World Diabetes Day Edition

Today CMCH recognizes World Diabetes Day. While this serious disease is growing at alarming rates due to higher rates of obesity, unhealthy diets, and sedentary lifestyles, there is, thankfully, lots of media attention and research dedicated to learning more about it and combatting its causes and effects.

• World Diabetes Day is an initiative of the International Diabetes Federation. You can read about today and the group's other projects and resources here.
• Along with other researchers, CMCH Director Dr. Michael Rich did a study on diabetic teens in which the teens were given a chance to make videotapes about their lives and experiences with the illness. You can read about the study here, or you can learn all about the VIA project and its other subjects here.
• Obesity leads to diabetes, and obesity rates are not blind to race, class, or ethnicity. In response to the data that African American and Latina/o teens are more likely to be obese than their peers of other backgrounds, USC researcher Donna Spruijt-Metz developed a mobile monitoring system for those teens that can be worn inobtrusively in order to take readings throughout the day on various vital signs and physical activity levels. The data was then sent back to the wearers with tips and summaries. In the focus group of 12 teens, Spruijt-Metz found that they had positive feelings about the devices. A similar project in 2008 looked at a text messaging service for adolescents already suffering from diabetes.
• The trend these days is to develop active games, or exergames, to encourage video game users and sedentary children and teens to get moving. But do they actually increase physical activity and improve health? CMCH has gathered research on the topic, including two studies from this year: 1, 2.
• Diabetes can sometimes be avoided or managed with a healthy diet, but it's hard to make that seem fun or feasible to all young people and families. With busy schedules, salaries that just won't stretch, and mixed messages from the media, it can be difficult to get started on that path. However, there are many magazines and websites for kids, teens, and families dedicated to cooking together and learning about where your food comes from. Check out Chop Chop Magazine, Ingredient magazine, CookingTeens.com, or KickinKitchen TV for great ideas to get started. With that in mind, take a look at this article on Readers to Eaters, an initiative that promotes food literacy as a road to good health and academic achievement.
• If you'd like to take a look at special populations and specific factors that can lead to diabetes or overweight, take a look at this study on American Indian and Alaska Native youth or this study on correlations between screen time and metabolic risk factors.

Have you found any other research or press that is acknowledging World Diabetes Day? Let us know!

Recently Added Studies on Children, Media, and Health

Check out these studies of interest on the topics of children, media, and health that were recently added to the CMCH database:

Barroso, C.S., et al. (2011). Saturday morning television advertisements aired on English and Spanish language networks along the Texas-Mexico border. Journal of Applied Research on Children, 2(2), 1-22.

• This study analyzed food-related commercials aired during children's television programming in an area at high risk for obesity, the Texas-Mexico border. The researchers found that only a small amount of the total commercial time was dedicated to food advertisements, but of that portion, the majority of advertisements were for unhealthy foods.

Boisseau, C.L., et al. (2011). Representation of ideal figure size in Ebony magazine: A content analysis. Body Image, 8(4), 373-378.

• This study looked at issues published over the last couple of decades of Ebony magazine, a publication meant for African American women. They looked at female readers' reactions to diet- and exercise-related content, sizes and shapes of female models, and other factors. They concluded that the African American community may have more accepting attitudes about different body sizes and shapes, and that this was reflected in the magazine.

Devis-Devis, V.J., et al. (2012). Brief report: Association between socio-demographic factors, screen media usage and physical activity by type of day in Spanish adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 35(1), 213-218.

• This study looked at Spanish adolescents' leisure activities that were media-based and looked at associations between media usage and physical activity. Media usage/physical activity relationships depended on the type of media and whether it was a weekday or weekend.

Jones, R.K., & Biddlecom, A.E. (2011). Is the Internet filling the sexual health information gap for teens? An exploratory study. Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives, 16(2), 112-123.

• Researchers asked high school students whether they used the Internet to seek information on sexual health topics. They found that most students only used the Internet for this purpose when it was a school assignment, not when it was for their own interests. However, the researchers concluded that the Internet could be used as a way to offer sexual health information so long as teachers use media literacy training to help students assess the validity of websites.

 Young, R., et al. (2011). Keeping in constant touch: The predictors of young Australians' mobile phone involvement. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(1), 333-342.

• This study looked at which characteristics were shared by teens who used mobile phones in Australia. They found that young people used mobile phones more. Interestingly, more positive self concept was correlated with higher phone usage as well. 

Looking for other studies? Click here to search the CMCH Database of Research.

Connections in News, Media, and Research: Teen Read Week Edition

In honor of Teen Read Week (October 14-20), we are highlighting some recent news and studies available in our database that are related to children/adolescents and literacy, reading, books, and magazines.

• The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) sponsors Teen Read Week and has a website that will let you learn more about it, whether you're a librarian or not. They encourage teens to read any sort of media (print books, ebooks, magazines, graphic novels, etc) just for the fun of it. Their reasoning for a special week dedicated to encouraging teen engagement with literacy? "Although teens realize the importance of reading, they have a huge menu of activities to choose from when deciding how to spend their free time, and reading gets lost in the shuffle. Reading skills get rusty when they are not used. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports that over the last 20 years there have been only modest gains in reading achievement. And although there are many active literacy campaigns, very few efforts focus on teenagers."
• In a 2011 study, researchers asked children to watch television clips on literacy and assessed the children's reactions to them. They found that the children could remember and understand the clips, but they did not find any connection between watching the clips and changing opinions of literacy. Then again, only three years earlier, a study asked 4- to 8-year-old children what they thought of kids who read, kids who watched television, and kids who played video games. Their answers? Readers were "smart," TV fans "lazy," and gamers "bored."
• Children's and Young Adult (YA) novels are gaining in popularity, leading to fans of all ages. CMCH has been collecting content analyses and studies that look at how these books (and children's and teens' magazines) might portray things like substance use, thinness and beauty messages, violence, tobacco use, aggression, sexual initiation, and food advertising.
• Has your son/daughter/patient been spending more time on social networks not called Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace? If they're readers, they might be members of social reading sites, gaining in popularity, which are dedicated to reading lists, user book reviews, and community, all through shared reading experiences and interests. Popular sites include GoodReads, LibraryThing, Copia, and BookLamp.
• There's no doubt that different media messages can contribute to self-image. If you're interested in how this works in print media for young people, check out this study on portrayals of disability in picturebooks, one on magazine advertisements and body image, one on how media exposure affects sexual behavior in teens, and one on how reading can improve emotional health and school performance.

Do you have any plans for Teen Read Week?

Media in the Media - News We're Following

Here at CMCH, we're always finding news, websites, games, and other great stuff that promotes positive use of media, shows young people engaging with technology in creative ways, informs us of new studies underway, and highlights other items of interest to practitioners, researchers, parents, teachers, and advocates. Here are some of the things we're excited about lately.

• GenZPlay has developed an app for kids that only functions if they're doing physical activity. What an interesting way to make sure technology-loving kids go outside and play once in awhile!Available for iPhone, Big Cat Race pits the iPhone holder against a lion, leopard, or cheetah and encourages them to race.
• In a study titled "The New Definition of Childhood," The Global Kids Study found that kids use technology in a variety of positive ways, helping make this generation's world a lot smaller than it is for their parents.
• YA (young adult, meant for teens) literature has enjoyed a surge of popularity lately and is becoming more widely read by both tweens and adults. In these two posts at Teen Librarian's Toolbox, bloggers Christie and Karen discuss what the covers of YA books might say, imply, or promote about body image and size.
• The great accessibility of the Internet has led to crowdsourcing new musical albums, book reviews, and health information. Just take a look at Kickstarter, Goodreads, or HealthTap if you want to see how people of all backgrounds provide others--even if they don't know them in person--with everything from support for a business upstart to answers to common health questions. Now teens are doing that too, with the public launch of Hallway, a crowd-sourced homework help website.
• Confused about why so many girls love seemingly vapid and meaningless pop songs? This insightful essay about Taylor Swift, the guitar-playing young popstar known for writing songs about breakups and heartbreak (and directly naming her exes) talks about why Swift's lyrics really are quite accurate and pertinent to teen life.
• Those interested in understanding how teens use various forms of technology might be curious about the approach, opinions, and expertise of those who work with adolescents outside of the medical sphere. Professional magazine VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) provides freely available archives online of their column Tag Team Tech, which discusses everything from cyberbullying to pleasure reading to visual literacy. 
• With so many media messages about how girls should hate math or how computer programming is for boys, it's great to see this news about African American girls succeeding at and enjoying computer programming. The program Black Girls Code aims not only to educate and engage these girls but also to change their perspectives on what the stereotypical programmer looks and acts like, hoping to get a little more diversity into the field.
• GURL.com talks about why celebrity "bump watching" is silly, and they also take a jab at the idea that girls who don't watch their eating must be pregnant. Previously, though, they encouraged readers to speculate on whether actress and singer Selena Gomez, who was rushed to the hospital, was pregnant or just sick. What do you think tabloid media and reality shows that focus on pregnancy or pregnancy speculation do to the perceptions of the teens that read and watch them? P.S. If you want to see what else this site, frequented by teen girls and dedicated to everything from health tips to fashion, says, click on the links at the bottom of the article for "pregnant" and "pregnancy."

If you're looking for peer-reviewed articles and scholarly research, remember to check the CMCH database.

Media in the Media - News We're Following

While these aren't exactly research studies that we publish in our database, we think these newly published news articles, innovative games and websites, and other news might be of interest to you.

• They say generation Y is all about the Internet, but data shows that these people (those born from 1979-1989) bought the most books in 2011. We hope that means they're reading them, too. Remember, reading books of any kind contribute to increased academic success, civic engagement, and more. That's something pediatricians should be happy about.
• Ever heard of social essentialism? Researchers found that children who hear "generic language," like "Girls have long hair" or "Boys play rough," are more likely to grow up believing in stereotypes and essentialist ideas. Next time you're talking about healthy modeling with parents of your patients, you might want to talk about the language they're using.
• Earlier this month, Psychology Today published a piece on what parents can do to encourage their daughters not to get pregnant young--you know, aside from just telling them not to. You might be surprised at how much influence a parent can have simply by telling their daughters they are proud of their academic accomplishments or taking an active role in their dating life.
• Pew researchers consider the effect social media and mobile networking has on today's teens by looking at how it might have changed the lives of teens in the past. What would Juliet text to Romeo?
• In case you missed it, a 14-year-old girl recently used Internet media, in the form of Change.org, a social change social site that allows you to make petitions and share them with changemakers, to get Seventeen magazine to make a promise not to photoshop the bodies of the models they use. It's great to see teens use media positively and effectively and to take initiative to effect change they want to see, and it might be even sweeter to see how much they realize that body image and self esteem have a lot to do with images online and in magazines.
• This new app might encourage kids to spend more time on the iPad, but it does so by encouraging them to think about construction and mechanics by letting them build a virtual Rube Goldberg contraption.
• Being a techie doesn't have to mean never getting outside or being overweight. If you're looking for a way to encourage your patients to be active without sacrificing their interest in computers or apps, or if you're a parent looking for positive role models for your tech-savvy and creative kids, take a look at this list of the 35 fittest people in tech.

Remember, if you're looking for reports and studies on these subjects and more, you can check the CMCH Database of Research.

Can Reading Help Kids Lose Weight?

We know that reading offers a wide variety of benefits, but is encouraging weight loss one of them? According to a new study by Duke University researchers, the answer might be yes--when you're reading the right kind of book.

Healthy Lifestyles, Duke's six-month childhood obesity program, gave 31 of its 81 participants a book called Lake Rescue to read. The book is one of B*Tween Production's Beacon Street Girls series, which the New York Times reports was shaped by experts in adolescent development and created as "antidote to the diet of sex and consumerism served up in so much young-adult literature."

This volume tells the story of an overweight girl who gains confidence and an appreciation for fitness on a camping trip. Participants who read Lake Rescue showed an average 0.71 decrease in body mass index scores. The other participants, however, some of whom were given a non-weight-related Beacon Street Girls book and some of whom were not given a book, showed an average increase of 0.05.

To Regulate or to Self-Police?

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission published a new report on food marketing to children and adolescents. According to the FTC website, "the report calls for all food companies 'to adopt and adhere to meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12.' "

Meanwhile, the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a coalition of 14 major food companies, published a report in which they promised either to stop advertising to children or to promote only "better-for-you products" to children. Today's New York Times chronicles the tension over whether to increase government regulation of such advertising or to allow the food industry to regulate itself.

The reports were released amidst growing concerns over the increase in childhood overweight and the research that points toward food marketing as a potential factor.

The (Heavy) World According to "Wall-E"

Wall-E has made a big splash among movie-goers this summer, but this futuristic robot love story is not just sweet and enjoyable. It's also full of social commentary about an issue that's very much in the public eye: the relationship between food advertising, television viewing, and overweight.

The Times Union on Monday noted the link between Wall-E's portrayal of future humans as "fat blobs...with television screens mounted 12 inches from their heads" and the U.S.'s current epidemic of overweight. In the article, CMCH Director Michael Rich is quoted as saying, "This is the direction things could go in if we continue this way."

Even if the future doesn't look quite like that, however, there is plenty of research linking overweight with the very issues that Wall-E highlights: A 2005 study found that children's exposure to ads for sweet/fatty foods is associated with overweight, and another study found that such exposure is increasing. As Dr. Rich points out, though, the problem isn't watching one commercial--it's constant exposure over the course of years that changes our attitudes toward food. And whether you've seen Wall-E or not, that sort of change, and the risks associated with it, definitely warrants attention.

Do Crime Rates Influence Sedentary Behavior?

In the last 30 years, technological changes have made staying inside more appealing to kids than ever before.  With TV, video games, computers and other media inside, kids aren't always interested in playing outside, or encouraged to do so.  One reason parents may actually want to keep their kids inside is because neighborhoods are less safe for kids to play in.

A new study by Brown et al investigates whether an area's crime rate influences the sedentary behavior of the children who live there. After studying a population of 4th graders in Texas, they found that:

• Boys were more likely to play video games in communities where robbery rates are high and sexual offenders are common
• Girls were more likely to watch TV in communities where sexual offenders are common, but they were less likely to use computers

The authors point out that given the link they found between crime rates and some kinds of media, and that using these media is sedentary in nature, then crime rates may be indirectly influencing obesity.