February 2001 • Volume 7 Number 2
Battling media violence from a physician's perspective
BY SHERI PORTER
If you're a physician worried about the effects of media violence on your young patients, Victor Strasburger, M.D., offers this advice: Forget legislation. Forget petitioning movie executives. "We can do a whole lot more in our offices than we can do in Washington or Hollywood," he said.
Strasburger, a professor of pediatrics and family and community medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, presented a seminar, "Sex, Drugs and Violence in the Media," at the Conference on Patient Education Nov. 16 -19 in Albuquerque, N.M.
He's also a dad who closely monitors the media consumption of his 7-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.
"The average American child spends three hours a day in front of the TV -- it's the leading leisure-time activity for children. And that's three hours a day that child is not reading, not playing, not talking to his parents," said Strasburger. Ninety-nine percent of U.S. households have a television set, and that's more than have indoor plumbing, he added.
Studies suggest that as media time increases, a child's physical activity and creativity decline, while aggressive behavior goes up.
And it's the aggressive behavior that most worries Strasburger and brings to mind the troubling question: Do violent kids watch violence in the media, or does violence in the media make violent kids? Strasburger said four decades of research show an indisputable link between media violence and real-life violence. But based on what they're learning from the media, kids don't understand that violence has consequences.
"The context of how you display violence is extremely important," said Strasburger. "I had a young patient with a gunshot wound who actually said to me, 'I didn't know it would hurt.'"
Other factors
Children are also learning, through television, movies and violent video games, the concept of justifiable violence. Think: Arnold Schwarzenegger. "The media teach kids that violence is OK if you're the good guy," said Strasburger.
Over time, specific desensitization occurs. Media violence researchers even claim that the statistical correlation is greater between media violence and real-life violence than it is between smoking and lung cancer, Strasburger said.
"Violence becomes an acceptable solution, and then the child overreacts when put under stress," said Strasburger, citing the particular threat of violent video games. "Giving children pleasure in even the fantasy killing process, I think, is dangerous."
Guiding parents
How should you broach this topic with parents? A good icebreaker is taking a media history from the young patient (see box). In addition, try these tactics:
- Stress the negative effects of over-consumption and suggest that children should have no more than an hour or two a day of total media consumption. Include television, movies, video games and the Internet in the daily tally.
- Advise parents to stand firm about no television in the bedroom. Twenty-five percent of preschoolers and more than 55 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States enjoy this luxury.
- Ask parents to co-view with their children -- studies show that only 20 percent currently do so. "When parents watch with their children, the parents' view takes precedence. Watch with them. Interpret with them," Strasburger said.
- Share statistics with parents, and let them draw their own conclusions.
It's important for the physician to intervene early. "Talk to parents of 6-month-old babies. Talk to them when they bring in their 12-month-old for shots. If you're talking to parents of teenagers, you're too late," Strasburger said.
Want to take a media history?
Ask your young patients:
- How many hours each day do you watch TV?
- How do you decide which shows to watch?
- Where is the TV?
- Are there any house rules about watching TV?
- What are your favorite TV programs? Movies?
- Are there rules about music videos? Video games?
- Who watches TV with you?
- Do you go online?
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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