TY - JOUR
T1 - Children's Direct Fright and Worry Reactions to Violence in Fiction and News Television Programs
AU - van der Molen, Juliette H.Walma
AU - Bushman, Brad J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) through a scholarship granted to Dr Walma van der Molen to investigate children's reactions to violent news and entertainment.
PY - 2008/9
Y1 - 2008/9
N2 - Objective: To examine whether violence in fictional and news television content frightens and worries children. Study design: Mixed factorial. Type of reaction (fright, worry) and television programming (violent news, violent fiction) were within-subjects factors, whereas age, sex, and television viewing frequency were between-subjects factors. Participants included 572 children (47% boys), aged 8 to 12 years, from 9 urban and rural primary schools in the Netherlands. The main exposure was to descriptions of 8 threats frequently depicted in fictional and news programs (eg, murder, war, house fires). Children reported whether they were frightened or worried by these threats. Results: Violent threats increased both fright and worry. These 2 reactions could be distinguished from one another in a factor analysis. When violent content was described as news, it produced more fear reactions than when it was described as fiction. Fright and worry were greater in girls than in boys, in younger children than in older children, and in light television viewers than in heavy television viewers. Conclusions: Pediatricians should inform parents, educators, policy makers, and broadcasters about the potentially harmful effect of violent programming on children's emotions, especially in the case of news programming.
AB - Objective: To examine whether violence in fictional and news television content frightens and worries children. Study design: Mixed factorial. Type of reaction (fright, worry) and television programming (violent news, violent fiction) were within-subjects factors, whereas age, sex, and television viewing frequency were between-subjects factors. Participants included 572 children (47% boys), aged 8 to 12 years, from 9 urban and rural primary schools in the Netherlands. The main exposure was to descriptions of 8 threats frequently depicted in fictional and news programs (eg, murder, war, house fires). Children reported whether they were frightened or worried by these threats. Results: Violent threats increased both fright and worry. These 2 reactions could be distinguished from one another in a factor analysis. When violent content was described as news, it produced more fear reactions than when it was described as fiction. Fright and worry were greater in girls than in boys, in younger children than in older children, and in light television viewers than in heavy television viewers. Conclusions: Pediatricians should inform parents, educators, policy makers, and broadcasters about the potentially harmful effect of violent programming on children's emotions, especially in the case of news programming.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=49349110254&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jpeds.2008.03.036
DO - 10.1016/j.jpeds.2008.03.036
M3 - Article
C2 - 18534207
AN - SCOPUS:49349110254
SN - 0022-3476
VL - 153
SP - 420
EP - 424
JO - The Journal of pediatrics
JF - The Journal of pediatrics
IS - 3
ER -