Media use and children's perceptions of societal threat and personal vulnerability.
This study examined children's media use (i.e., amount of television and Internet usage) and relationships to children's perceptions of societal threat and personal vulnerability. The sample consisted of 90 community youth aged 7 to 13 years (M = 10.8; 52.2% male) from diverse economic backgrounds. Analyses found children's television use to be associated with elevated perceptions of personal vulnerability to world threats (i.e., crime, terrorism, earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods). An interactive model of television use and child anxiety in accounting for children's personal threat perceptions was supported, in which the strength of television consumption in predicting children's personal threat perceptions was greater for children with greater anxiety. Relationships were found neither between children's Internet use and threat perceptions nor between media use and perceptions of societal threat.
Comer
Jonathan S
JS
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. comerj@childpsych.columbia.edu
Furr
Jami M
JM
Beidas
Rinad S
RS
Babyar
Heather M
HM
Kendall
Philip C
PC
D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology; D003469:Culture; D003625:Data Collection; D004190:Disasters; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D011336:Probability; D012306:Risk; D012938:Social Perception; D012940:Social Problems / Q000523:psychology*; D013690:Television; D023481:Terrorism / Q000523:psychology