Media Use and Children's Perceptions of Societal Threat and Personal Vulnerability

Abstract

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.

This project was supported by a Graduate Student Research Grant awarded to the first author by Division 53 of the American Psychological Association (Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology), a Presidential Fellowship awarded to the first author by Temple University, and NIH grants 59087 and 64484 awarded to the final author.

Notes

^a Estimate reflects data from subsample of 24 mothers (26.7%) who reported presence of a household rule about maximum amount of child television viewing allowed.

^b Estimate reflects data from sub-sample of 23 mothers (25.6%) who reported presence of a household rule about maximum amount of child Internet use allowed.

^c Estimates reflect data from sub-sample of 11 mothers (12.2%) who reported presence of household rules about maximum amount of child television viewing allowed and maximum amount of child Internet use allowed.

∗p < .05, two-tailed. ∗∗p < .01, two-tailed.

Note: R ² = .01 for Step 1; Adjusted R ² = − .01 for Step 1; ΔR ² = .06 for Step 2 (p < .05); ΔR ² = .14 for Step 3 (p < .001); ΔR ² = .06 for Step 4 (p < .05).

^aVariables centered before products were generated.

∗p < .05. ∗∗∗p < .001.

Note: R ² = .07 for Step 1; Adjusted R ² = .06 for Step 1; ΔR ² = .02 for Step 2, ns; ΔR ² = .01 for Step 3, ns; ΔR ² = .02 for Step 4, ns.

^a Variables centered before products were generated.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01.