Media Impact on Preschool Behavior

描述（由申请人提供）：大量研究已经证实了暴力电视节目对儿童攻击水平的不利影响。研究还证实，某些类型的媒体节目实际上可以促进亲社会行为。不幸的是，目前大多数学龄前儿童的观看习惯严重倾向于不合适的节目，而牺牲了高质量的节目。本研究将尝试在不增加整体观看时间的情况下，改善学龄前儿童的电视饮食。根据美国儿科学会对这个年龄段儿童屏幕时间的建议，我们将测试一种干预措施，以帮助父母对他们的孩子接触的媒体内容做出有意识和知情的决定。这项初级预防工作将以幼儿为重点，以避免在青年和青春期后期出现暴力行为模式。3-5岁的儿童被精心选择进行干预，因为对幼儿来说，亲社会内容是现成的，对鼓励亲社会行为有已知的好处；因为这个年龄段的孩子实际上看了大量的攻击性和暴力内容；因为年幼的孩子可能特别容易受到观看对行为的影响，也因为尽管早期干预可以很明显地帮助他们树立良好的行为模式，但这方面的研究还很缺乏。在这样做的过程中，我们有三个具体目标：目标1：提高电视观看质量。干预组的孩子每周看攻击性节目的时间比对照组的孩子少。干预组的孩子看亲社会电视的时间比对照组的孩子多。目的2：减少干预组的攻击性目的3：增加干预组儿童的亲社会行为H3干预组儿童比对照组儿童表现出更多的亲社会行为。媒体影响项目叙述用不超过2或3个句子，描述该研究与公共卫生的相关性。要简洁明了，使用通俗易懂的语言，让一般的外行读者都能理解。幼儿观看的节目类型已被证明会影响他们的行为。这个项目将试图通过减少儿童观看暴力节目的数量和增加亲社会节目的数量来改善儿童的媒体饮食。我们的目标是确定这是否会对他们的行为产生积极的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Considerable research has established the adverse effects of violent television programming on children's level of aggression. Research has also established that certain types of media programming can actually promote prosocial behavior. Unfortunately, the current viewing habits of most preschoolers lean heavily towards inappropriate programming at the expense of higher quality shows. This study will attempt to improve the TV diet of preschool children, without increasing overall viewing time. Keeping in mind the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for screen time in this age group, we will test an intervention to assist parents in making conscious and informed decisions regarding the media content to which their young children are exposed. This primary prevention effort will focus on young children, in an attempt to avert the emergence of violent behavior patterns later in youth and adolescence. The age of 3-5 is carefully chosen for this intervention because of the ready availability of prosocial content for young children, with known benefits for encouraging prosocial behavior; because of the heavy diet of aggressive and violent content that children in this age range actually watch; because young children may be especially vulnerable to the effects of viewing upon behavior and because despite the obvious promise of early interventions to set good behavioral patterns early, there is a dearth of research in this area. In doing so, we have three specific aims: Aim 1: To improve the quality of television viewing H1a. Children in the intervention arm will watch fewer hours of aggressive programming per week than children in the control arm H1b Children in the intervention arm will watch more hours of prosocial television than children in the control arm Aim 2: To decrease aggression in the intervention arm H2. Children in the intervention arm exhibit less aggression than children in the control arm Aim 3: To increase prosocial behavior in the intervention arm H3 Children in the intervention arm will exhibit more prosocial behavior than children in the control arm. Media Impact Project Narrative Using no more than 2 or 3 sentences, describe the relevance of the research to public health. Be succinct and use plain language that can be understood by a general, lay audience. The types of programming young children watch has been shown to affect their behavior. This project will attempt to improve the media diet of young children by decreasing the amount of violence they watch and increasing the amount of prosocial programming. The goal will be to determine if this makes a positive difference in their behavior.