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The most recent spate of school shootings
in California and Pennsylvania left many Americans wondering
what is driving teenagers to such extreme forms of violence,
and where it will all end. Now an analysis of 10 years of
research supports what many have suspected all along:
violence
in the media can have a profound effect on the behavior of
children and teens.
We have a
generation of kids who have been abandoned to the electronic
baby-sitter.
However, other child development experts
say it is too easy to blame the media. While TV, video games
and music videos have been shown to significantly influence
teen behavior, other factors such as poor academic performance
and living with someone who has a criminal record or is mentally
ill can have an even bigger impact.
Adolescents who watch music videos, listen
to the radio and watch television movies more frequently than
their peers appear to have sex at younger ages and are more
likely than other adolescents to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes
and marijuana and cut class.
TV violence
was also associated with aggression among children as young
as 4 years.
While there was no evidence that violent
lyrics actually caused a change in behavior, some studies
indicated that listening to violent and sexually explicit
music can desensitize children
to violence and promote sexual stereotyping.
Media did not only influence the way young
people behave outwardly. Violent or scary television programs
or movies were found to cause nightmares, anxious feelings,
withdrawal from friends and fear of being alone, among adolescents
as well as younger children.
Kids who feel alienated and don't have
an adult to help them through the trials of growing up may
be most susceptible to the negative effects of the media.
Young children are also
more vulnerable because they cannot distinguish
between fiction and reality.
Journal of
the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry April
2001;40:392-401
Want Fat Kids? Have
Them Watch TV
Almost half
of all American children aged 8 to 16 watching more than 2
hours of television every day.
Researchers report that the likelihood
of obesity among adolescents -- particularly among girls --
increases with the number of hours they spend in front of
the "boob tube."
While they're exercising less, they are
watching TV more, especially as they get older. And, as
children's TV time increases, so does their body fat.
The investigators found that obesity
was lowest among children who watched TV for 1
hour or less per day -- and that as the
hours mounted so did the numbers of children who were obese.
The investigators found that the children's
calorie intake increased
with TV watching, with this tendency being particularly
marked among girls. However, the researchers also found that
more boys than girls watched 2-plus hours of TV per day.
As for exercise, only about 55% of the
children engaged in a physical activity five or more times
per week. Black girls had the lowest activity rates.
And minorities were far more likely to
watch television 3 or more hours daily.
While the near-doubling of the obesity
rate among adolescents between the last generation and the
current one reflects all American adolescents, minority children
in particular lack safe places where they can engage in physical
activity as an alternative to television viewing.
Archives of
Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine March 2001;155:360-365
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