Asja Maass

Does Media Use Have a Short-Term Impact on Cognitive Performance?

It has often been shown that the amount of media use is negatively related to cognitive outcomes. The more time spent on media the poorer cognitive performance is. This association has mainly been found for general-audience, violent, and action-loaded contents but not for educational contents. Typically, long-term-explanations like the time-displacement hypothesis are considered to account for this relation, although this cannot fully explain the association. Additionally short-term explanations should be considered, since it can be expected that media-induced stress can impair information processing. The present study compares short-term effects regarding memory performance and the ability to concentrate, using four different experimental conditions (high- vs. low-arousing films and video games). It was also examined if the experienced level of stress mediates group differences and if habitual media, habitual use of age-restricted contents or the trait sensation seeking moderate this mediation. Participants consisted of N = 117 university students. They were asked to learn written items before media use and to recall these after having used the media. Further, the ability to concentrate was measured. Experimental groups differed with regard to the cognitive outcome measures after media use. A significant univariate difference was found for high- vs. low-arousing contents in general (independent of type of media), the high-arousing content leading to poorer ability to concentrate after media use. The expected mediating and moderating effects are not supported. The study yields evidence that short-term mechanisms might play a role in explaining the negative correlations between media use and cognitive performance.

Media and Stress in Adolescent Boys in Germany

The study is on the effects of entertainment media on physiological and psychological indicators of stress. The concept of stress is considered to play a key role in the explanation of the effects of media use on aggression, academic performance, and health. Two types of media (television and video games) and violent versus nonviolent content were compared. Differential effects on physiological measures (heart rate [HR], heart rate variability [HRV], cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase [sAA]) and subjective experience were expected. Study participants consisted of 98 boys, aged 11 to 14. Physiological stress reactions were higher for video games than for television with regards to HR and HRV. Violent content had greater effects on physiological stress than nonviolent content, when measured in terms of sAA, cortisol, and HRV. Violent content, in general, was rated as being more stressful but also more enjoyable. The results underline that certain types of media use are associated with subjective and physiological indices of stress.

Stressprävention im Jugendalter: Effekte eines Trainingsprogramms mit Internetbegleitung

Zusammenfassung. Berichtet wird uber eine Studie zur Evaluation eines Stresspraventionstrainings fur Jugendliche der Klassenstufen 8 und 9. Das Training basiert auf dem Problemloseansatz und wurde auf der Basis mehrerer vorausgehender Studien entwickelt. Es besteht aus acht Trainingssitzungen mit einer Dauer von jeweils 90 Minuten im wochentlichen Abstand sowie einer begleitenden E-learning-Plattform. An der Studie nahmen insgesamt 372 Schuler teil, von denen 182 die Trainingsgruppe und 190 die Kontrollgruppe bildeten. Als Evaluationskriterien wurden Veranderungen (a) des Wissens uber Stress und Stressbewaltigung, (b) des Stresserlebens bzw. der Stressvulnerabilitat, (c) der Stresssymptomatik sowie (d) der Selbstwirksamkeit berucksichtigt. Weiterhin wurden Fragen zur Trainingsbewertung durch die Schuler gestellt. Die Erhebung der Evaluationskriterien fand eine Woche vor und eine Woche sowie zwei Monate nach dem Training statt. Als Ergebnisse zeigten sich deutliche Wissenszunahmen, deutliche Zunahmen des S...

Effects of a School-Based Stress Prevention Programme on Adolescents in Different Phases of Behavioural Change.

This study examines whether the assumptions of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) are useful to evaluate the effectiveness of a school‐based stress prevention programme in adolescence to promote appropriate coping behaviour. The TTM assumes three consecutive phases in the adoption of behavioural patterns. Progress throughout the phases is promoted by three developmental determinants. It, therefore, was expected that programme participation is associated with a progression throughout the phases and with a change in the developmental determinants. Of 372 adolescents, aged between 13 and 16 years, 190 participated in a control condition and 182 in a stress prevention programme. Measurements were taken a week before (pre‐test), a week after (post‐test) and 12 weeks after the training (follow‐up‐test). Results indicated that adolescents in different phases of behaviour change report different numbers of stress symptoms. Programme participation is associated with a progression in phases which, however, was not stable after the programme had run its course. Besides this, adolescents in different phases benefit from participation differentially as different patterns of changes in the developmental determinants show. A systematic promotion in the different phases of behavioural change by integrating TTM‐tailored ‘tools’ into a stress management programme may improve participants’ intention and competence to actually show appropriate coping behaviour.