Behavioral Effects of Teen Exposure to Multiple Risk Behaviors in Media

描述（由申请人提供）：开始不健康的风险行为，如过早的性行为，酗酒，以及潜在的暴力行为，如欺凌和身体打架，是青春期的标志。通常情况下，这些行为与另一种行为同时发生，增加了不良社会和健康后果的可能性。研究表明，接触以描述特定危险行为为特征的媒体内容对青少年的行为表现有关键影响。然而，研究未能解释大众媒体中多重风险角色描绘的影响，以及它如何影响风险行为模式。本项目采用风险行为暴露的创新概念来研究流行电影和电视节目中多重风险描述与青少年多重风险行为之间的纵向关联。我们将对最卖座的主流和非裔美国人取向的电影和电视节目进行内容分析，以描述单一和多重风险行为，并将内容分析的结果与媒体曝光和行为数据联系起来，这些数据是在全国范围内从14-17岁的青少年中收集的三波代表性样本中收集的。由于一些青少年比其他人更容易受到媒体效应的影响，我们将考虑背景因素（种族）和人格特征（感觉寻求和冲动）作为暴露-行为关系的调节因子。在我们的内容分析中包含了非裔美国人媒体标题，尽管非裔美国人媒体在非裔美国年轻人中很受欢迎，但我们偏离了仅依赖主流媒体的更传统的方法。这些发现将促进我们对媒体如何促进青少年参与危险行为组合的理解，并对风险和疾病预防工作产生影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The initiation of unhealthy risk behaviors such as premature sexual activity, alcohol use, and potentially violent acts like bullying and physical fights is a hallmark of adolescence. It is often the case that these behaviors occur in combination with another, increasing the potential for adverse social and health outcomes. Research has shown that exposure to media content that features depictions of a specific risk behavior is a key influence on adolescents' performance of that behavior. However, studies have failed to account for the effect of multiple risk character portrayals in popular media, and how it may affect risk behavior patterns. This project uses an innovative conceptualization of exposure to risk behavior to study the longitudinal association between multiple risk portrayals in popular movies and television shows and multiple risk behavior in youth. We will content analyze top-grossing mainstream and African American oriented films and television shows for depictions of single and multiple risk behaviors, and will link the results of the content analysisto media exposure and behavior data collected over 3 waves from a nationally representative sample of 14-17 year old teens. Because some adolescents are more susceptible to media effects than others, we will consider background factors (race) and personality characteristics (sensation seeking and impulsivity) as moderators of the exposure-behavior relationship. With the inclusion of African American media titles in our content analyses, we depart from more conventional approaches that rely solely on mainstream media despite the popularity of African American oriented media among African American youth. The findings will advance our understanding of how media contribute to youth engagement in dangerous combinations of risk behaviors and have implications for risk and disease prevention efforts.