Media Influence on Youth Leo R. Sandy

Body Image Young girls are being deluged by media images of skinny models: Girls are becoming weight conscious as young as 8 years old 80% of 9 year olds are on diets Eating disorders have grown 400% since 1970 In a recent survey by Teen People magazine, 27% of the girls felt that the media pressures them to have a perfect body. A 1996 poll conducted by Saatchi and Saatchi found that ads made women fear being unattractive or old. By the time a young person is 17 years old, they have received over 250,000 commercial messages through the media.

Body Image 69% of girls in one study said that magazine models influence their idea of a perfect body shape. Many males are becoming insecure about their physical appearance as advertising and other media images raise the standard and idealize well-built men. Researchers are seeing an alarming increase in obsessive weight training and the use of anabolic steroids & dietary supplements that promise bigger muscles and more stamina for lifting. Studies are finding that boys, like girls, may turn to smoking to lose weight

Body Image Many women seen often in the media, especially models and increasingly actresses, are seriously underweight, and many diet and smoke to keep their natural weight off all plastic surgeries among teens increased by almost 50% from 1996-1998, mostly for girls.

Smoking While teen girls account for a large part of smokers and new smokers, movies starring teen idols and aimed at teens often show "cool characters" smoking. For movies rated PG-13, 82% of movies show characters smoking. And it’s very rare that a movie will show any negative consequences for smoking

Teens and Sex Three out of four teens say ‘TV shows and movies make it seem normal for teenagers to have sex.’ Young teens (ages 13-15) rank entertainment media as the top source of information about sexuality and sexual health Four out of ten teenagers say they have gotten ideas for how to talk to their boyfriends and girlfriends about sexual issues from the entertainment media. The American Psychological Association estimates that teens are exposed to 14,000 sexual references & innuendos per year on TV.

Teens and Sex A recent report from the Center for Media & Public Affairs found music videos to contain more sex per minute than any competing media genre. A study of 4,294 network television commercials found that nearly one in 4 commercials includes some type of sexual attractiveness as a base for the message. Young teens (13-15) indicate that a major source of sex education is from tv.

Teens and Sex Of the roughly 14,0000 references to sex a teen will see on TV each year, only a small fraction (165) will include any reference to abstinence or delay of sex, birth control, risk of pregnancy, or sexually transmitted disease. Obviously girls bear the risk of pregnancy that boys don’t, but girls are also more likely to contract STDs than boys. (American Academy of Pediatrics, Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media, 2001)

Teens and Sex repeated exposure to media with sexual content may influence teens to have sex earlier the younger a girl is when she has sex; the more likely she did it under pressure, or force when men are shown in the background of a video, they are most often fully clothed

Teens and Sex when women are in the background, approximately half the time, they are dressed in ways that expose or focus on their breasts and rear ends from the mid-1990’s shows that 90% of the top 100 music videos shown on MTV were directed by men

Teens and Violence The Mediascope National Television Violence Study found that children are: learning aggressive attitudes and behaviors becoming desensitized to real world violence developing a fear of being victimized by violence Many of the programs that children watch send the message that a conflict always involves a winner and a loser.

Teens and Violence On television, perpetrators go unpunished 73% of the time. This gives the message that violence is a successful method of resolving conflicts. 47% of all violent interactions on TV depict no harm to victims. 58% show no pain Only 16% of all broadcast programs show the long-term negative effects of violence.

Teens and Violence “There is absolutely no doubt that higher levels of viewing violence on television are correlated with increased acceptance of aggressive attitudes and increased aggressive behavior” (APA Commission on Violence and Youth, 1993) Media violence can lead to aggressive behavior in children. Over 1,000 studies confirm this link.

Teens and Violence Advertisements from some segments of the fashion industry use images of violence against a woman and try to make it fashionable or erotic. An ad for jeans in Elle shows three men physically attacking a woman

Media and Violence Media violence affects children by: -Increasing aggressiveness and anti-social behavior. -Increasing their fear of becoming victims. -Making them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence. -Increasing their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life.

Remedies Parents can reduce the effect media violence has on children by: Limiting the amount of television children watch to 1 to 2 hours a day. Monitoring the programs children watch and restricting children's viewing of violent programs. Monitoring the music videos and films children see, as well as the music children listen to, for violent themes. Teaching children alternatives to violence.

Remedies Parents can help children develop media literacy skills by: Helping children distinguish between fantasy and reality. Teaching them that real-life violence has consequences. Watching television with children and discussing the violent acts and images that are portrayed. Ask children to think about what would happen in real life if the same type of violent act were committed. Would anyone die or go to jail? Would anyone be sad? Would the violence solve problems or create them? Asking children how they feel after watching a violent TV show, movie, or music video.

Acknowledgments http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm

Resources Kids Addicted to Gaming http://www.cbn.com/family/parenting/Black_gaming.aspx Four Tips for Your Video Addicted Child http://www.empoweringparents.com/blog/technology-and-kids/4-practical-tips-to-help-your-video-game-addicted-child/

Resources cont’d Children Addicted to Video Games http://ezinearticles.com/?Children-Addicted-to-Video-Games---Ten-Critical-Points-Parents-Need-to-Know&id=5020182 Technology and Media http://www.parentfurther.com/technology-media

Resources Cont’d Is Your Kid a Video Game Addict? http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-parenting/2009/04/20/is-your-kid-a-video-game-addict-2 How to Help Children Addicted to Video Games: A Guide for Parents http://www.techaddiction.ca/children-addicted-to-video-games.html