Adolescents and the media:  why don’t paediatricians and parents “get it”?

Strasburger, Victor C

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb07109.x

Topics

Paediatricians could raise parents’ awareness of potential problems with media exposure by asking a few simple questions during consultations

“This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it is merely wires and lights in a box.”1

School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

Correspondence:

1. Murrow ER. A broadcaster talks to his colleagues. The Reporter 1958; Nov 13: 12.
2. Strasburger VC, Wilson BJ. Children, adolescents, and the media. SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, Calif, 2002.
3. Australian Institute of Family Studies. Longitudinal study of Australian children. Annual report 2003–2004. Melbourne: AIFS, May 2005. Available at: http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/pubs.html (accessed May 2005).
4. Children and the media: advocating for the future. Report of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 2004. Available at: http://www.racp.edu.au/hpu/paed/media/index.htm (accessed Jun 2005).
5. Roberts DF, Foehr UG, Rideout V. Generation M: media in the lives of 8–18-year-olds. Menlo Park, Calif: Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005. Available at: http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia030905pkg.cfm (accessed Sep 2005).
6. Anderson C, Berkowitz L, Donnerstein E, Huesmann R, et al. The influence of media violence on youth. Psychol Sci Public Interest 2003; 4: 81-110.
7. Anderson C. Violence in the media: its effects on children. Glenelg, SA: Victorian Parenting Centre and Young Media Australia, 2004.
8. Hogan M. Adolescents and media violence: six crucial issues for practitioners. Adolesc Med Clin 2005; 16: 249-268.
9. Zimmerman FJ, Glew GM, Christakis DA, Katon W. Early cognitive stimulation, emotional support, and television watching as predictors of subsequent bullying among grade-school children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2005; 159: 384-388.
10. Australian Psychological Society. Media representation and responsibilities. An Australian Psychological Society position paper. Melbourne: APS, 2000.
11. Gould M, Jamieson P, Romer D. Media contagion and suicide among the young. Am Behav Sci 2003; 46: 1269-1284.
12. Strasburger VC. Adolescents, sex, and the media: oooo, baby, baby — a Q & A. Adolesc Med Clin 2005; 16: 269-288.
13. Collins RL, Elliott MN, Berry SH, Kanouse DE, et al. Watching sex on television predicts adolescent initiation of sexual behavior. Pediatrics 2005; 114: e280-e289.
14. Paul B, Bryant JA. Adolescents and the internet. Adolesc Med Clin 2005; 16: 413-426.
15. Flood, M, Hamilton C. Youth and pornography in Australia: evidence of the extent of exposure and likely effects. Canberra: Australia Institute, 2003.
16. Aitken PP, Eadie DR, Leathar DS, et al. Television advertisements for alcoholic drinks do reinforce under-age drinking. Br J Addict 1988; 83: 1399-1419.
17. Strasburger VC. Alcohol advertising and adolescents. Pediatr Clin North Am 2002; 49: 1-24.
18. Dalton MA, Sargent JD, Beach ML, et al. Effect of viewing smoking in movies on adolescent smoking initiation: a cohort study. Lancet 2003; 362: 281-285.
19. Cameron AJ, Welborn TA, Zimmet PZ, et. al. Overweight and obesity in Australia: the 1999–2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab). Med J Aust 2003; 178: 427-432. <MJA full text>
20. Dunstan DW, Zimmet PZ, Wellborn TA, et al. The rising prevalence of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance: the Australian Diabetes, Obesity, and Lifestyle Study. Diabetes Care 2002; 25: 829-834.
21. Coalition on Food Advertising to Children. Children’s health or corporate wealth: the case for banning television food advertising to children. Adelaide: CFAC, 2003.
22. Australian Divisions of General Practice. What are we feeding our children? A junk food advertising audit. Canberra: Australian Divisions of General Practice, February 2003. Available at: http://www.adgp.com.au/client_images/1743.pdf (accessed Sep 2005).
23. Hargreaves D. Adolescent body image suffers from media images of the impossibly thin. Flinders Uni J 2002; 13: 10-23.
24. Becker AE. Eating behaviours and attitudes following prolonged exposure to television among ethnic Fijian adolescent girls. Br J Psychiatry 2002; 180: 509-514.
25. Christakis DA, Zimmerman FJ, DiGiuseppe DL, McCarty CA. Early television exposure and subsequent attentional problems in children. Pediatrics 2004; 113: 708-713.

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.