Center on Media and Child Health

Connections in News, Media, and Research: Women's History Month

March is celebrated as Women's History Month. Before the end of the month, we wanted to share with you some interesting research, news, and media relating to women's health, gender stereotypes, and more.

• March is also Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, and often these two issues go hand in hand. Take a look at this analysis of dating in Twilight, this 2011 study on how viewing media depictions of violence influences aggression, and an article on how teen girls' magazines frame stories of dating violence around the female victims.
• This report from Hollywood.com looks at how few women directors there are in Hollywood, and how many fewer get recognized. Did you know only four women have ever been nominated for a Best Director Oscar, and only one (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009, The Hurt Locker) has ever won?
• A recent panel at SXSW discussed the propensity of woman-owned media outlets that call Millennial and older women "girls" and wax poetic about kittens and cupcakes. Is it demeaning to women? A reclaiming of a term and new definition? How do you think this might influence today's young girls and teens as they grow into adults?
• Looking for some age-appropriate reading for your whole family to do? Check out Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month for book suggestions and literature discussion.
• Are you caught up on CMCH's other blog, Ask the Mediatrician? Check out some of the past posts that have dealt with gender: talking to girls about media and body image, marketing pink toys to girls, slut lists, and more.
• Take a look at feminist scholar and critic Anita Sarkeesian's video (and transcripts) series "Tropes vs. Women," which unpacks stereotypical female characters in movies, television, and video games.
• By the way, if you think it's only parents who notice that toy marketing is especially gendered, take a look at this little girl schooling her father on gender double standards.

How did you observe Women's History Month this year?

Research, News and Resources for Dealing With Tragedy

We at CMCH were deeply saddened to hear of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. We thought it might be helpful to provide you with links to research, words of peace, and helpful resources for helping children and families cope with tragic circumstances and violent acts.

• CMCH's sister blog, Ask the Mediatrician, published a new Q&A about the shooting. Read it here. You might also want to check the posting after the Aurora, CO, shooting.
• CMCH's director, Michael Rich, MD, MPH, was one of the experts featured on 90.9 WBUR's resource list for talking about the Sandy Hook shooting. He was also on the NECN morning show to talk about the aftermath of the event.
• News shows that memberships in the National Rifle Association have grown significantly since the days of the shooting, and gun sales have spiked as well.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics stated that "we must engage in a national dialogue designed to reduce children’s detrimental exposure to violence in their communities, environments and entertainment" in an open letter to President Obama following the shooting.
• Research available in the CMCH database include experiments using relaxation techniques to cope with negative events broadcast on the news and studies on how children reacted to the September 11 tragedies depending on their news exposure. Keep in mind also that people of different cultural backgrounds react differently to stressful, sad events, and no one way of coping works for everyone.
• The AAP also noted that one of the ways to help children deal with tragedy is not to deviate from normal routines. 
• Because media can be healing when used in positive ways, librarians have started the Books Heal Hearts initiative, soliciting donations of materials that can help the Newtown community deal with their great loss.
• Healthy Children has an article on how to talk to children about the tragedy.

We extend our deepest sympathies and support to those affected by this tragic event.

Connections in News, Media, and Research: National Bullying Prevention Month Edition

In honor of National Bullying Prevention Month (October), we are highlighting some recent news and studies available in our database that are related to children/adolescents, the media, and bullying/cyberbullying.

• National Bullying Prevention Month is an initiative of the PACER Center, which is dedicated to supporting and empowering families and children with disabilities.
• A mid-September article in the Examiner reported that parents of special needs children are seeking to have videotaping present in special education classrooms to discourage bullying and mistreatment of children. They also linked to articles about the bullying of special needs kids while in school, either by teachers or other students.
• To familiarize yourself with bullying and cyberbullying, take a look at this article, which asks whether cyberbullying is "overrated," this article on the evolution from bullying to cyberbullying, and this article that asks what makes a bully, all available in our database.
• It's not just adults who are concerned about cyberbullying and its effects on kids. Take a look at this fifth grader who wrote a song about bullying and performed it.
• Learn who the aggressors and who the victims are in cyberbullying with these studies.
• If you'd like to know what CMCH Director and Mediatrician Michael Rich, MD, has to say about bullying and online saftey, check out our other blog, Ask the Mediatrician.
• You might also be interested to know how children feel about cyberbullying, which online platforms have the most incidences of cyberbullying, how adolescents protect themselves from and cope with cyberbullying, or how exposure to different material online can lead to other types of aggression.
• January was No Name-Calling Week, but that doesn't mean it's not relevant all year round. Check out this blog post from the Association of Library Service to Children with a list of books, fiction and non-fiction, related to bullying and name-calling.
• Bullies are often victims themselves. This new article in Medical Daily says that school bullies are three times more likely to suffer from depression.
• Once you've exhausted the CMCH Database of Research, you might also want to check out the Cyberbullying Research Center for fact sheets and other information you can share with parents, teachers, and young people.

Are there any efforts you'll be making to support National Bullying Prevention Month?

Research Toolbox: CMCH Database- Advanced Search

The CMCH Database of Research (DoR) can be searched using three different tools: Advanced Search, Guided Search, and Browse by CMCH Subject. Today were are going to explore the Advanced Search function and try out an example search for violence and video games. 

• Step One: Go to the CMCH DoR Advanced Search page. Here you can enter your search criteria by typing the word(s) you’d like to search into the text boxes. You can narrow or broaden your search by connecting words using the Boolean operators OR, AND, NOT. Using the drop-down menu you can limit the fields that are searched to Subject term, Abstract, Title, Journal, Author, or Source of Funding or you can keep your search broad by choosing All fields. 

• Step Two: Searches can be limited by Age Group, Study Design, Publication Type, and Year. Simply click on the specific age group, study design, etc that you would like to limit your search to. You can choose as many or as few limits as you’d like. Also, you can limit your search to Peer-reviewed or CMCH Authors. 

• Step Three: After all your search criteria is entered click Search Now to see your results. If you have too many or too few results you can go back and revise your search to make it broader or narrower. For example if you did not get many search results try going back and taking out some the limits you put in place.  

Now let's try out a real search! 

Example: 

I’ve decided that I want to do a search about violence and video games:

1. I enter the word violence into a search box and enter video games into another search box.
2.  I change the Boolean operator to AND, so that I am doing a search for violence AND video games. 
3. I leave the drop-down menu on All fields. 

I’d like to see if there have been any peer-reviewed experimental studies done with adolescents in the last five years:

1. I select the age group limit Adolescence (13-17) and the study design limit Experimental Study.
2. I do not limit the search by Publication Type. 
3. I select the years 2007-2012 by clicking on 2007 and then holding down the computer’s control key to click on the other years. Lastly, I limit the search by Peer-reviewed studies.

 Below is a screenshot of my search criteria (click for bigger image): 

Here are the six search results I got from this search: 

• Hummer, T. A., Wang, Y., Kronenberger, W.G., et al. (2010). Short-term violent video game play by adolescents alters prefrontal activity during cognitive inhibition. Media Psychology, 13(2), 136- 154.

• Nije Bijvank, M., Konijn, E.A., Bush, B.J., & Roelofsma, P.H.M.P. (2009). Age and violent-content labels make video games forbidden fruits for youth. Pediatrics, 123(3), 870-876.

• Barlett, C., Branch, O., Rodeheffer, C. & Harris, R. (2009). How long do the short-term violent video game effects last? Aggressive Behavior, 35, 225–236. 

• Gentile, D. A., Anderson, C.A., Yukawa, S., et al. (2009).  The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: International evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies.  Personality and  Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(6), 752-763. 

• Polman, H., de Castro, B. O. & van Aken, M. A. (2008). Experimental study of the differential effects of playing versus watching violent video games on children's aggressive behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 34, 256–264. 

• Konijn, E. A.,  Nije Bijvank, M. & Bushman, B.  (2007). I wish I were a warrior: The role of wishful identification in the effects of violent video games on aggression in adolescent boys. Developmental Psychology, 43(4), 1038-1044.

****

Now go ahead and try out your own search! If you have any questions about the DoR  please do not hesitate to e-mail us at cmch@childrens.harvard.edu. 

Recent Questions on Ask the Mediatrician

If you haven't checked out Ask the Mediatrician lately, head on over to see these and other recent questions from parents and answers from Dr. Michael Rich, Director of CMCH:

• My son wants Call of Duty, but how do these games affect teen boys?
• Will my preschooler fall behind if she doesn't learn how to use the computer?
• Does multitasking with media distract kids from homework?

If you know of a website whose audience could benefit from the free Ask the Mediatrician service, send the webmaster these simple steps to add an Ask the Mediatrician button like the one below!

Suicide & Social Networking Sites - Prevention vs Encouragement

Within the past week, there have been two major headlines about social networking  technologies preventing suicides:

• A UK teen who was describing his suicide plans on Facebook was saved by a Maryland teen who alerted police to the situation.  See story
• Actress Demi Moore saw a woman post a suicide threat on Twitter and called police who found the woman unhurt but in need of help.  See story

This is a complete reversal of several past news stories where the internet played a key role in teens going through with suicide:

• Teen Megan Meier committed suicide after an online courtship ended.  It was later revealed that the boy she thought she was communicating with was actually a phony account created by a neighbor.  See story
• College student Abraham Biggs broadcast his suicide over the internet, egged on by viewers who encouraged him to "go ahead and do it."  See story

Advice for Parents:

• Remember, the internet, like all media, is neither good nor bad -- it is all in how it is used.  Recent studies show that the internet is an important tool for socialization, so don't assume all internet use is bad.
• Talk to your kids about how they use the internet, who they talk to online, and what they tell others about themselves.  A recent study showed that when kids were reminded that strangers were looking at their public information, they took action to "clean-up" the kind of information they displayed.    
• Meet your kids where they are: Go online and start a Facebook or MySpace account, then ask your kids if you can be friends with them through these sites.  If they give you permission, your presence will remind them that others are looking at their profiles, and you may learn about new media from your kids in the process!

Don't Warn Parents about Harmful Effects of Video Game Violence?

In early January, Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) reintroduced a bill in the California Congress that would require all video games rated T (Teen) or higher to include a label that reads "WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior."

The Entertainment Consumers Association has responded to the proposal by launching a campaign that has drummed up a good deal of support from gaming blogs. Despite the fact that the bill (and the sticker it proposes) would not restrict video game content, the ECA campaign attempts to show that the bill "is an unconstitutional restraint on speech that will harm consumers and parents alike." It also claims that "the vast majority of studies show that there is no proven causal link between violent media of any type and aggressive behavior."

The research, however, indicates otherwise. Lab-based research by Craig Anderson suggests that playing violent video games increases players' aggressive behavior and makes it more likely that they will deal with conflict aggressively. For more information, see the APA website, or see Chapter 11 of The Handbook of Children, Media, and Development, which reviews the most current research on the relationship between media violence and aggression in young people. 

Discussing Risky Behavior Online is...Well...Risky

This month's issue of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine includes two related studies about teens' online discussion of their own risk behaviors, whether real or invented, in the real world. Researchers at Seattle Children's Research Institute conducted both studies.

One study found that most teens do discuss sex, substance use, or violence on social networking sites. The other shows that many of these teens can be convinced to change their online behavior with relatively little prompting--in this case, a researcher emailed teens whose public profiles included risk-behavior content. The email recommended making their profiles private or taking down such content, pointing out that anyone--including potential employers--could see it. It also raised health concerns about the behaviors. Many students who received the email took some of her suggestions.

In both USA Today and White Coat Notes (Boston.com's blog about the Boston medical community), CMCH Director Michael Rich, MD, MPh, comments on the studies. The blog posting says that, according to Dr. RIch, "social networking sites [are] venues where young people channel their images and ideas, connecting with peers as they try on different identities. Where they can get into trouble is believing what they put on their profiles remains anonymous." And as this research suggests, a wake-up call might make them reconsider.

Wii Wand Doesn't Increase Aggression...but Violent Video Games Do

After the release of "Manhunt II" for the Wii--in which players use a motion-detecting wand to punch, stab, and dismember other characters--many experts expressed concern over the potential effects of reinforcing such violent movements in video game play.

A study soon to be published in Computers and Human Behavior, however, did not find that using motion capture controls (like the Wii wand) adds to the increase in aggression that is linked to violent video games. This finding comes as a surprise to many experts, who believed that such wands were likely to exacerbate the games' negative effects.

The study did show that playing violent video games increased aggression regardless of the type of control used. It also addressed the question of whether people who are already more prone to aggression are more susceptible to such effects, and it seems that the answer is yes. For more information on the effects of violent video games and ways to alleviate them, see CMCH's page on video game violence.

More Links Between Violent Media and Aggression

Over the past 50 years, research has linked violent media exposure to increased aggression in young people. This month's Pediatrics adds two new studies to the mix: one on Internet violence and one on violent video games. Both recommend reducing or eliminating youth exposure to violent media.

One study found a link between being exposed to Internet violence and exhibiting seriously violent behavior, such as murder, assault, and robbery. The research showed that, with each additional type of violent site (e.g., hate sites, snuff sites, and sites showing satanic rituals) viewed, a youth's likelihood of reporting such behavior increased by 50%. In another finding described by CNN.com, young people who reported that " 'many, most or all' of the Internet sites they frequented featured 'real people fighting, shooting or killing' were five times more likely than their peers who didn't visit violent Web sites to engage in seriously violent behavior."

The second study further explores the connection between playing violent video games and increased aggression. It found that habitually playing violent video games increased young people's chances of being physically aggressive in the future, regardless of whether they already exhibited such behavior. It also showed that these effects occur across cultures (in this case, the U.S. and Japan)--even, as the researchers indicated, when the cultures display very different levels of violence.