News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

Children are watching more violence in movies, partly because of changes in the film rating system, according to a new study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

After studying movies released since 1950, researchers found an increase in violence in movies offered to children since the mid-1980s, but not an increase in sexual content.

• In the late 1960s, motion pictures began to be rated as "R," which means that children are not admitted without an adult; "G" - for general audiences; and PG - parental guidance required.
  
• However, in 1984, a new category of PG-13 appeared as a step between G and PG movies.
  
• PG-13 means parental guidance needed for children under 13, but children can be allowed to see the film without adults.
  
• Since that time, about half of the top grossing movies are rated PG 13, and there has been a constant escalation of violence in them.

The Annenberg team coded every year's top grossing 30 films from 1950 to 2006 to determine the amounts of sexual and violent content. They found that violence has exploded across the PG and up rating categories since 1984.

The authors said their finding was troubling, because previous research has shown that children who are exposed to media violence are more likely to engage in aggressive behavior, use violence as a means of solving disputes, and have less empathy for victims of violence.

This study appeared in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Labels: media_infuences, violence

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A study by the Parents Television Council found that TV depictions of violence toward women have doubled in the past five years.

The Council compared prime time programs on ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox aired in 2004 to those shown in 2009, and found increases in stories about beatings, threats, shootings, rapes, stabbing, and torture of women. Among the biggest offenders were cartoons such as Family Guy and American Dad.

The Council rated the following shows as unacceptable for children under 14 years old: House, Heroes, American Dad, Family Guy, So You Think You Can Dance, Amazing Race, Survivor, and The Simpsons.

Labels: violence, television

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Victor Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico has released a study that explores the effects media violence has children. The study echoes concerns raised by both doctors and parents  that increased exposure to violence and violent images desensitizes young people.

"I feel like media violence in games and television desensitizes us to the truth of how horrible violence really is and the effects it has on other people, [Jessica] Marshall said. "It glamorizes criminal behavior and encourages the idea of the police being the bad guys." (Source: The Daily Lobo)

Still, professor Christopher Holden reminds parents that they have the power to influence not only their kids' exposure to violence, but their attitude toward it.

Labels: media_infuences, violence

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Maryland lawmakers have put forth a proposal aimed at protecting teens and tweens from dating violence. Statistics show that one in four teenagers will find themselves in an abusive relationship.

"The bill would require every middle and high school in Maryland to teach students about dating violence and expand the current definition of a victim of domestic violence to include dating relationships."

Several people testified in favor of the bill during a hearing at the State House of Representatives, including Bill and Michelle Mitchell, whose daughter was stabbed to death three years ago by her boyfriend. There's currently no indication as to when state lawmakers will vote on the bill. Source: WBAL-TV (Baltimore)

Labels: violence, dating, abuse

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Experts on adolescent psychology are concerned about high-profile cases of teenagers murdering their parents or guardians after the adults took away the teens' cellphones or video games.

• After her grandmother confiscated her cellphone, 14-year-old Jermea Simmons set fire to her family's home in Buffalo, NY, as 10 family members slept inside. Jermea's grandfather died in the fire; the others escaped.
• In Adrian, Mich., 17-eyar-old Marshall Sosby shot his parents in after an argument about the amount of minutes he had run up on a cellphone while talking to an out-of-state girlfriend.
• Daniel Petric, age 17, killed his mother and shot his father in the face when they took away his Halo 3 video game. His father is a pastor in Wellington, OH.

Some experts on teenagers and their use of media explain this kind of violence in terms of this generation's tendency to build their lives around technology. When their technology goes away, they feel as if their lives have been taken away too.

Parry Aftab, an Internet lawyer and expert on technology, said many children are sleeping with their cellphones.

"It's actually a physical addiction," she said. "They have an adrenaline hit when they get a new text message. When this is taken away, some kids will react violently."

Labels: violence, technology, aggression

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Children and teenagers who are attacked by their peers are less likely to be victimized again if they undergo training in how to avoid conflicts, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins University Children's Center.

Dr. Tina Cheng and her colleagues studied 113 children ages 10 to 15 years old who had been treated for assault injuries in hospitals, including gunshot and knife wounds. Half received six sessions of counseling and three home visits; the other half was referred to community services.

The ones who received counseling, including advice on how to avoid triggering anger in others and how to get out of dangerous situations, had 25 percent fewer fights and 42 percent fewer fist injuries over the following six months compared to the control group.

"When we see youth with assault injuries in Emergency Rooms, we have a golden opportunity to step in and interrupt this cycle," Dr. Cheng said.

This study appeared in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Teen Suicide Linked to Losses Related to Family, School, Romance

The common denominator of teen suicide is loss, according to a new study from Hawaii. Hawaii has the highest rate of teen suicide - twice the national average.

Dan Galanis, author of the study, said that parents and teachers need to be alert when a teenager talks about committing suicide. Over 40 percent of those in the study talked about it before actually killing themselves.

Galanis found that boys commit suicide at three times the rate of girls, and that 75 percent of those who kill themselves have mental problems. The most frequent reason for teen suicide is a sense of loss - usually related to family, romance or school.

Labels: violence, counseling, therapy

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Television shows like Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" have created a stereotype of the online pedophiles which has been found to be inaccurate. The stereotype is of an adult to who deceives a young person by posing as a teen him- or herself.

"Internet offenders pretended to be teenagers in only 5 percent of the crimes studied by researchers at the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center. They also found that nearly 75 percent of victims who met offenders face to face did so more than once. Very few cases involved violence, stalking or abduction."

Though this new information doesn't diminish the dangers of online predators, it gives parents and teens someone different to look out for. More than likely, it's an adult who's upfront about his or her age and open about wanting to initiate a sexual relationship. One of the best guards against this kind of activity is for parents to be aware of the relationships that their teen is developing, both on- and offline. Read more at TheGlobeandMail.com.

Labels: violence, online_safety, bullying

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Boys are just as likely as girls to experience date violence, according to researchers using data from the National Youth Risk Behavior Study.

Almost 14,000 students in grades 9 through 12 were asked, "In the past year, did your boyfriend or girlfriend ever hit slap or physically hurt you on purpose in any way?" Among girls, 9.2 percent answered yes, compared to 9% of boys.

Dating violence is related to drinking, physical fights, sexual activity, and suicidal thoughts, according to the study, which was presented at the American Public Health Association's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

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Labels: violence, boys, girls

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A study from Children's Hospital in Philadelphia found that children who live in rural areas are as likely to die by guns as those in big cities. However, gun deaths in rural areas tend to be suicides, and gun deaths in urban areas tend to be homicides.

The rate for both areas was about four deaths per every 100,000 children.

In large cities, the rate of suicide by firearms was less than one per 100,000 children, compared to a 2.75 rate in rural areas. However, the gun-homicide rate in cities was 3.8 per 100,000, compared to 0.8 in rural areas.

Lead researcher Dr. Michael Nance said the results of his study indicate that programs about gun safety and suicide prevention should be adjusted according to regional differences.

The study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.
 

Labels: violence, suicide, death

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 0 Comments

A study of 2,000 families with three-year-olds found that two-thirds of the parents had spanked their toddlers during the previous month. If parents were violent or if one parent was aggressive, the likelihood of their child's being spanked doubled.

In this study from Tulane University School of Public Health, "aggression" was defined as behaviors such as preventing someone from seeing friends or family, withholding or taking money, or insulting or criticizing one's spouse. Victims of aggression were most likely to be the parent that spanked children.

• The families in this study were 37% African-American, 30% Hispanic, and 28% white.
• All the families in the study lived in large cities.
• About 27% of the mothers had no high school diploma, 27% had graduated from high schools, 27% had some college, and 19% were college graduates.

"The purpose of this study was to understand patterns of common aggression and violence in families, and parents' use of spanking with three-year-olds," said lead author Professor Catherine Taylor. "Parents that find themselves in relationships where there is aggressive or controlling behavior, even if it is a minor, may want to seek counseling for themselves and for the good of their children."

Dr. Lori Evans, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Child Study Center at New York University Medical Center, said it did not surprise her that parents who are violent toward one another are more willing to spank their children.

"But what is really surprising," she said, "is that something we know is not effective with kids is still so accepted and used."

The study appears in the journal Pediatrics.

Labels: violence, corporal punishment, spanking, discipline

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