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To review the research literature published within the past 10 years regarding the impact of media on children and adolescents. Media categories researched with computer technology included television and movies, rock music and music videos, advertising, video games, and computers and the Internet. 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. 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.
Alcohol use is frequently portrayed in television programming and advertising. Exposure to media portrayals of alcohol use may lead to increased drinking. To address this issue, we examined prospectively the associations between media exposure and alcohol use in adolescents. Prospective cohort study. Setting. Six public high schools in San Jose, California. Participants. Ninth-grade students (N = 1533; mean age = 14.6 years). Students reported hours of television, music video, and videotape viewing; computer and video game use; and lifetime and past 30 days' alcohol use at baseline and 18 months later. Associations between baseline media exposure and subsequent alcohol use were examined with multiple logistic regression. During the 18-month follow-up, 36.2% of baseline nondrinkers began drinking and 50.7% of baseline drinkers continued to drink. Onset of drinking was significantly associated with baseline hours of television viewing (odds ratio [OR] = 1.09; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.01-1.18), music video viewing (OR = 1.31; 95% CI = 1. 17-1.47), and videotape viewing (OR = 0.89; 95% CI = 0.79-0.99), controlling for age, sex, ethnicity, and other media use. Computer and video game use was not significantly associated with the subsequent onset of drinking. Among baseline drinkers, there were no significant associations between baseline media use and maintenance of drinking. Increased television and music video viewing are risk factors for the onset of alcohol use in adolescents. Attempts to prevent adolescent alcohol use should address the adverse influences of alcohol use in the media.
To test the hypothesis that greater exposure to smoking in films is associated with trying smoking among adolescents. Cross sectional survey of 4919 schoolchildren aged 9-15 years, and assessment of occurrence of smoking in 601 films. Randomly selected middle schools in Vermont and New Hampshire, USA. Number of schoolchildren who had ever tried smoking a cigarette. The films contained a median of 5 (interquartile range 1-12) occurrences of smoking. The typical adolescent had seen 17 of 50 films listed. Exposure to smoking in films varied widely: median 91 (49-152) occurrences. The prevalence of ever trying smoking increased with higher categories of exposure: 4.9% among students who saw 0-50 occurrences of smoking, 13.7% for 51-100 occurrences, 22.1% for 101-150, and 31.3% for >150. The association remained significant after adjustment for age; sex; school performance; school; parents' education; smoking by friend, sibling, or parent; and receptivity to tobacco promotions. The adjusted odds ratios of ever trying smoking for students in the higher categories of exposure, compared with students exposed to 0-50 occurrences of smoking in films, were 1.7 (95% confidence interval 1.2 to 2.4), 2.4 (1.7 to 3.4), and 2.7 (2.0 to 3.8). These odds ratios were not substantially affected by adjustment for parenting style or for personality traits of the adolescent. In this sample of adolescents there was a strong, direct, and independent association between seeing tobacco use in films and trying cigarettes, a finding that supports the hypothesis that smoking in films has a role in the initiation of smoking in adolescents.
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