Research Update Review
Impact of Media on Children and Adolescents: A 10-Year Review of the Research

https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200104000-00007Get rights and content

ABSTRACT

Objective

To review the research literature published within the past 10 years regarding the impact of media on children and adolescents.

Method

Media categories researched with computer technology included television and movies, rock music and music videos, advertising, video games, and computers and the Internet.

Results

Research prior to 1990 documented that children learn behaviors and have their value systems shaped by media. Media research since has focused on content and viewing patterns.

Conclusions

The primary effects of media exposure are increased violent and aggressive behavior, increased high-risk behaviors, including alcohol and tobacco use, and accelerated onset of sexual activity. The newer forms of media have not been adequately studied, but concern is warranted through the logical extension of earlier research on other media forms and the amount of time the average child spends with increasingly sophisticated media.

Section snippets

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Dietz and Strasburger's review (1991) summarized the research of the previous 20 years, which demonstrated the multiple effects of television on child and adolescent cognition and behavior. Looking at topics ranging from cognitive development, to obesity, to aggressive behavior and violence, drug use, suicide, sexual activity, and the promotion of stereotyping, this article highlighted earlier findings and provided the basis for much of the recent research. From this point, particularly in the

TELEVISION AND MOVIES

Two major meta-analytic reviews were published in the 1990s. Wood et al. (1991) examined 28 research reports on children and adolescents exposed to media violence and subsequently observed in unconstrained social interactions. The authors concluded that exposure to media violence increases aggressive interactions with strangers, classmates, and friends. In a larger review of 217 studies conducted between 1957 and 1990, Paik and Comstock (1994) looked at the effects of television violence on

ROCK MUSIC AND MUSIC VIDEOS

During the 1970s and 1980s, rock music lyrics became more explicit in their references to sex and drugs (Fedler et al., 1982). The AAP's revised policy statement in 1996 stated that although there were no studies documenting a cause-and-effect relationship between sexually explicit or violent lyrics and adverse behavioral effects, there is ample evidence given the content to be concerned about desensitization to violence, promotion of sex-role stereotyping, and acceptance of risk-taking

ADVERTISING

While advertising has not been as extensively studied as television programming, the studies of the past decade document in a compelling fashion the influence of advertising media on the attitudes of young children and adolescents in ways that ultimately shape later behaviors. During the past decade research has focused on the areas of tobacco and alcohol advertising, since in 1993 alone the tobacco industry spent $6 billion on advertising (Report to Congress for 1993 Pursuant to the Federal

VIDEO AND COMPUTER GAMES

The annual industry growth of video and computer games in the United States has been meteoric, from $100 million in 1985 to $7 billion in 1994 (Provenzo, 1991). Funk (1993) surveyed 357 seventh-and eighth-grade students regarding the frequency and location of video game use. The average time spent playing was 4.2 hours per week. Boys played more frequently in video arcades (50% compared with only 20% of girls playing in arcades). The content of almost half of the games was violent, and 40 of

COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET

The use of computers and the Internet has not been studied using research techniques to date, yet 89% of teenagers report using a computer, 61% report “surfing the net,” and 14% report seeing something that they do not want their parents to know about (Princeton Survey Research, 1997). Commentaries and news stories abound in response to linkages made between recent killers and computer use. McGee and DeBernardo (1999), in their article describing “school avengers,” a profile of the recent

DISCUSSION

The predominant theme of the research literature of the 1990s was the careful delineation of content in all forms of the typical American child's media diet. This, combined with survey information about how much time children and adolescents continue to spend with various forms of media, leads naturally to growing concern about what children are learning. There is no doubt that media has a tremendous capacity to teach, different from standard teaching techniques. Whether through television or

REFERENCES (77)

  • WH Dietz et al.

    Children, adolescents, and television

    Curr Probl Pediatr

    (1991)
  • GA Keepers

    Pathological preoccupation with video games

    J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

    (1990)
  • G Martin et al.

    Adolescent suicide: music preference as an indicator of vulnerability

    J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

    (1993)
  • K Subrahmanyam et al.

    Effect of video game practice on spatial skills in girls and boys

    J Appl Dev Psychol

    (1994)
  • DG Altman et al.

    Tobacco promotion and susceptibility to tobacco use among adolescents aged 12 through 17 years in a nationally representative sample

    Am J Public Health

    (1996)
  • J Arnett

    The soundtrack of recklessness: musical preferences and reckless behavior among adolescents

    J Adolesc Res

    (1992)
  • C Atkin et al.

    Content and Effects of Alcohol Advertising (Report PB-82–123142)

    (1981)
  • C Atkin et al.

    The role of alcohol advertising in excessive and hazardous drinking

    J Drug Educ

    (1983)
  • PP Atkin et al.

    Television advertisements for alcoholic drinks to reinforce under-age drinking

    Br J Addict

    (1988)
  • W Breed et al.

    The portrayal of the drinking process on prime-time television

    J Commun

    (1981)
  • JD Brown et al.

    The effects of race, gender, and fandom on audience interpretations of Madonna's music videos

    J Commun

    (1990)
  • J Cantor

    Studying children's emotion reactions to mass media

  • J Cantor

    Fright responses to mass media productions

  • J Cantor et al.

    Children's fear reactions to a televised film as a function of perceived immediacy of depicted threat

    J Broadcasting Electronics Media

    (1990)
  • J Cantor et al.

    Parent's and children's emotional reactions to televised coverage of the Gulf War

  • J Cantor et al.

    Effects of fictional media depictions of realistic threats on children's emotion responses, expectations, worries, and liking for related activities

    Commun Monogr

    (1991)
  • BS Centerwall

    Television and violence: the scale of the problem and where to go from here

    JAMA

    (1992)
  • Committee on Communications, American Academy of Pediatrics

    Sexuality, contraception, and the media

    Pediatrics

    (1995)
  • Committee on Communications, American Academy of Pediatrics

    Children, adolescents, and advertising

    Pediatrics

    (1995)
  • Committee on Communications, American Academy of Pediatrics

    Media violence

    Pediatrics

    (1995)
  • Committee on Communications, American Academy of Pediatrics

    Children, adolescents, and television

    Pediatrics

    (1995)
  • Committee on Communications, American Academy of Pediatrics

    Impact of music lyrics and rock music videos on children and youth

    Pediatrics

    (1996)
  • Committee on Public Education, American Academy of Pediatrics

    Media education

    Pediatrics

    (1999)
  • J Comstock et al.

    Interpersonal interaction on television: family conflict and jealousy on primetime

    J Broadcasting Electronic Media

    (1990)
  • SM Dorman

    Video and computer games: effect on children and implications for health education

    J Sch Health

    (1997)
  • RH Durant et al.

    Violence and weapon carrying in music videos

    Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med

    (1997)
  • RH Durant et al.

    Tobacco and alcohol use behaviors portrayed in music videos: a content analysis

    Am J Public Health

    (1997)
  • N Evans et al.

    Influence of tobacco marketing and exposure to smokers on adolescent susceptibility to smoking

    J Natl Cancer Inst

    (1995)
  • J Federman

    National Television Violence Study I

    (1996)
  • J Federman

    National Television Violence Study II

    (1997)
  • J Federman

    National Television Violence Study III

    (1998)
  • F Fedler et al.

    Popular songs emphasizes sex, deemphasize romance

    Mass Commun Rev

    (1982)
  • CD Ferrie et al.

    Video game induced seizures

    J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry

    (1994)
  • PM Fischer et al.

    Brand logo recognition by children aged 3 to 6 years

    JAMA

    (1991)
  • JB Funk

    Reevaluating the impact of video games

    Clin Pediatr (Phila)

    (1993)
  • JW Grube

    Alcohol portrayals and alcohol advertising on television: content and effects on children and adolescents

    Alcohol Health Res World

    (1993)
  • Cited by (298)

    • Dermatological Findings in Children’s Films

      2023, SKIN: Journal of Cutaneous Medicine
    View all citing articles on Scopus

    This series of 10-year updates in child and adolescent psychiatry began in July 1996. Topics are selected in consultation with the AACAP Committee on Recertification, both for the importance of new research and its clinical or developmental significance. The authors have been asked to place an asterisk before the 5 or 6 most seminal references.

    M.K.D.

    View full text