Television Viewing and Risk of Injury & Chronic Disease Morbidity

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over the past several decades television viewing (TV) has increased dramatically in the U.S. Emerging data suggest that high amounts of exposure to TV may play a role in obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and injury - several of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Myriad images and messages included in TV programming and commercials may promote behaviors that increase risk of chronic disease, including sedentary lifestyle, poor nutritional choices, cigarette smoking, and excessive alcohol intake. Images and messages on TV may promote aggressive and risk taking behavior that may lead to intentional and unintentional injury. Interestingly, numerous studies have suggested that aggression or hostility may exacerbate risk factors for cardiovascular disease, raising the possibility that TV viewing may be one common upstream factor linking psychosocial outcomes with chronic diseases. We argue that the personality traits of hostility and aggression may be important effect modifiers for these pathways, a novel and yet untested hypothesis. In order to test hypotheses from this theoretical framework, we have identified a rich longitudinal dataset with multiple assessments of the exposure (TV), outcomes, and the various demographic, lifestyle, and psychosocial factors that would be examined as confounders or mediators. The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study is a 20-year multi-center prospective study of cardiovascular disease risk evolution in African American and Caucasian young adults (18 - 30 years of age at baseline in 1985/6) in four U.S. metropolitan regions. We propose to use this dataset to evaluate whether this single common environmental exposure - TV - may increase the risk for intentional and unintentional injuries and chronic diseases through a variety of plausible and interrelated mechanisms. We propose to evaluate TV as one possible link between chronic diseases and hostility. We see these secondary analyses as a first step in describing the relationship between TV exposure, chronic disease and its risk factors, and injury and its risk factors. An understanding of these interrelationships through the proposed work would provide insight into possible mechanisms leading to chronic disease and injury. Data from this work would then be used to support larger observational and experimental studies on the role of TV in the etiology of psychosocial and chronic disease risks. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Exposure to images and messages included in television programming and commercials may promote behaviors that increase risk of chronic disease, including sedentary lifestyle, poor nutritional choices, cigarette smoking, and excessive alcohol intake, as well risk of aggressive behavior and injury. An understanding of these interrelationships through the proposed work would provide insight into possible mechanisms leading to chronic disease and injury.