Why Is It So Hard to Believe That Media Influence Children and Adolescents?

Strasburger, Victor C.; Donnerstein, Ed; Bushman, Brad J.

doi:10.1542/peds.2013-2334

Cited by 30 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Our results indicated that the possible deleterious relation between media use and well-being may not be as practically significant as some researchers have argued (Strasburger, Donnerstein, & Bushman, 2014), and they highlight the continued need to critically reevaluate research claims that go beyond the available evidence (for more on this, see Ferguson & Donnellan, 2014). Our findings also suggest the need for a careful cost-benefit analysis of existing professional advicewhich at present supports allocating valuable pediatrician consultation time to discussing media use with caregivers.…”

Section: Closing Remarksmentioning

confidence: 50%

A Large-Scale Test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis

2017

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Although the time adolescents spend with digital technologies has sparked widespread concerns that their use might be negatively associated with mental well-being, these potential deleterious influences have not been rigorously studied. Using a preregistered plan for analyzing data collected from a representative sample of English adolescents (n = 120,115), we obtained evidence that the links between digital-screen time and mental well-being are described by quadratic functions. Further, our results showed that these links vary as a function of when digital technologies are used (i.e., weekday vs. weekend), suggesting that a full understanding of the impact of these recreational activities will require examining their functionality among other daily pursuits. Overall, the evidence indicated that moderate use of digital technology is not intrinsically harmful and may be advantageous in a connected world. The findings inform recommendations for limiting adolescents' technology use and provide a template for conducting rigorous investigations into the relations between digital technology and children's and adolescents' health.

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Section: Closing Remarksmentioning

confidence: 50%

A Large-Scale Test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis

2017

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“…In addition to the reasons mentioned above, there are seven additional reasons why people deny violent media effects (see Strasburger, Donnerstein, & Bushman, 2014). One reason is people think the media have a much stronger effect on others than on themselves-called the third person effect (Davison, 1983).…”

Section: Consumers Of Violent Media Are Motivated To Deny Violent Medmentioning

confidence: 99%

There is broad consensus: Media researchers agree that violent media increase aggression in children, and pediatricians and parents concur.

Bushman

Gollwitzer

Cruz

2015

Psychology of Popular Media Culture

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News reports and even some researchers suggest that there is no consensus on the basic question of whether violent media increase aggression in children. The purpose of this study was to test whether media researchers are in fact divided on this issue, and to compare the opinions of researchers with those of pediatricians and parents. Participants (n ϭ 371 media psychologists and mass communication scientists, n ϭ 92 pediatricians, n ϭ 268 parents) completed an anonymous online survey about whether exposure to different types of violent media (i.e., comic books, Internet sites, literature, movies, music, music videos, sports, TV programs, video games) increase aggression in children, whether that effect is causal, and whether it is a major factor in real-world violence. All groups agreed that exposure to media violence can increase aggression in children (overall d ϭ 0.49, a medium-sized effect). Ratings for violent video games and movies produced the highest level of agreement, whereas ratings for violent literature and comic books produced the lowest level of agreement. This pattern was highly consistent across all groups, indicating broad consensus on this issue. The only question on which groups differed in their opinions was whether media violence was a major factor in producing real-life violence: parents and pediatricians agreed that it was, media researchers did not agree. Although a few vocal researchers claim there is a "debate" on this issue, the overwhelming majority of researchers believe that violent media increase aggression in children, and that the relationship is causal. Pediatricians are even more convinced, and parents also have little doubt.

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“…For example, media rarely provide information about sexual health and sexualized media often oversimplify or stereotype gender differences (Collins, 2011;Huston, Wartella, & Donnerstein, 1998;Lowry & Shidler, 1993). While many studies have examined the possible negative consequences of sexualized media use (e.g., Strasburger, 2012a;Strasburger, Donnerstein, & Bushman, 2014), only recently have studies evaluated the reciprocal relation between media use and sexual outcomes (Hennessy, Bleakly, Fishbein, & Jordan, 2009;Peter & Valkenburg, 2010). Consuming sexualized media is a normal aspect of an increasing interest in sexuality during adolescence, but it has also been suggested to relate to risky sexual behavior (Strasburger, 2012a;Strasburger et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While many studies have examined the possible negative consequences of sexualized media use (e.g., Strasburger, 2012a;Strasburger, Donnerstein, & Bushman, 2014), only recently have studies evaluated the reciprocal relation between media use and sexual outcomes (Hennessy, Bleakly, Fishbein, & Jordan, 2009;Peter & Valkenburg, 2010). Consuming sexualized media is a normal aspect of an increasing interest in sexuality during adolescence, but it has also been suggested to relate to risky sexual behavior (Strasburger, 2012a;Strasburger et al, 2014). However, research is now also looking at potential positive effects of incorporating "responsible" messages about sexuality in popular media (Strasburger, 2012a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Realism Moderates the Relation Between Sexualized Media Consumption and Permissive Sexual Attitudes in Dutch Adolescents

et al. 2014

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This study examined whether the development of sexualized media consumption and permissive sexual attitudes would be more strongly interrelated when adolescents perceived sexualized media images as highly realistic. We used data from a three-wave longitudinal sample of 444 Dutch adolescents aged 13-16 years at baseline. Results from parallel process latent growth modeling multigroup analyses showed that higher initial levels of sexualized media consumption were associated with higher initial level of permissive sexual attitudes.Moreover, increases of sexualized media consumption over time were associated with increases of permissive sexual attitudes over time. Considering the moderation by perceived realism, we found these effects only for those who perceived sexualized media as more realistic. Findings for male and female adolescents were similar except for the relations between initial levels and subsequent development. Among male adolescents who perceived sexualized media images to be realistic, higher initial levels of permissive sexual attitudes were related to subsequent less rapid development of sexualized media consumption. For male adolescents who perceived sexualized media to be less realistic, higher initial levels of sexualized media consumption were related to a subsequent less rapid development of permissive sexual attitudes. These relations were not found for female adolescents. Overall, our results suggest that, in male and female adolescents, those with a high level of perceived realism showed a correlated development of sexualized media consumption and permissive sexual attitudes. These findings point to a need for extended information on how to guide adolescents in interpreting and handling sexualized media in everyday life.

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Why Is It So Hard to Believe That Media Influence Children and Adolescents?

Cited by 30 publications

References 5 publications

A Large-Scale Test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis

A Large-Scale Test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis

There is broad consensus: Media researchers agree that violent media increase aggression in children, and pediatricians and parents concur.

Perceived Realism Moderates the Relation Between Sexualized Media Consumption and Permissive Sexual Attitudes in Dutch Adolescents

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