About media and adolescent healthAdolescents (now typically identified as between 10 and 20 years old) are faced with a number of risks to their health, including violence, unprotected sexual activity, bad nutrition, and use of alcohol and tobacco and other drugs. Communication researchers have amassed an extensive body of research documenting the effect of television on violent behavior and have begun to conduct research that shows that the media play a role in other aspects of adolescents’ health as well. Content analyses show that media content is more encouraging of unhealthy than healthy lifestyles.The relatively fewer studies of how this content is used and acted on by adolescents suggest that such content does affect how adolescents think about sex, body image, alcohol and cigarettes. Efforts to reduce the potential negative effects of the media on children and youth have included a movie and television ratings system, the V-chip, and media education for children and parents. Much research remains to be done both on how youth will navigate and be affected by the new media environment and to what extent intervention efforts are effective. |