Jan Van den Bulck

Nodding off or switching off? The use of popular media as a sleep aid in secondary-school children

Aim:  To describe the use of media as a sleep aid in adolescents and relate this to their sleep routines and feelings of tiredness.

Energy intake associated with television viewing in adolescents, a cross sectional study.

The present study examines the energy intake resulting from eating snacks and drinking energy containing drinks while watching television. 2546 first and fourth year students in a random sample of 15 secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium received quantifiable, closed survey questions about average weekly TV viewing volume and about eating five types of snacks and drinking two types of soft drinks. On an average, the respondents watched 22:27 h of television per week (SD = 11:53). Only 3.5% of the adolescents never eat snacks or drink soft drinks while they watch TV. Estimated daily energy intake accompanying TV viewing amounts to 19% of the Belgian average energy allowance (AEA) in boys and between 12 and 14% of AEA in girls. On an average 1 h of watching television equals the consumption of 653 kJ.

Is Television Bad for Your Health? Behavior and Body Image of the Adolescent “Couch Potato”

This article examines the potential health effects of television. A survey of 1035 Flemish 17- and 18-year-olds shows that eating snacks and drinking regularly accompany viewing. Television was also shown to influence sleeping and family meals. Heavy viewers did not, however, appear to be more passive than lighter viewers. Their indulgence in sports did not differ, but content-specific relationships with going out appear to exist. In this group no link between viewing and obesity was found, but viewing was significantly related to various aspects of peoples self assessments regarding their weight, their ideal weight and their looks. Particular attention was given to those television programs that portray “idealized bodies.” Generally, a distinction was made between men and women because many body-, weight-, and health-related factors may be culture and gender specific.This article examines the potential health effects of television. A survey of 1035 Flemish 17- and 18-year-olds shows that eating snacks and drinking regularly accompany viewing. Television was also shown to influence sleeping and family meals. Heavy viewers did not, however, appear to be more passive than lighter viewers. Their indulgence in sports did not differ, but content-specific relationships with going out appear to exist. In this group no link between viewing and obesity was found, but viewing was significantly related to various aspects of peoples self assessments regarding their weight, their ideal weight and their looks. Particular attention was given to those television programs that portray “idealized bodies.” Generally, a distinction was made between men and women because many body-, weight-, and health-related factors may be culture and gender specific.

The Influence of Perceived Parental Guidance Patterns on Children's Media Use: Gender Differences and Media Displacement

A survey of 70 to 11 year olds showed that restrictive guidance leads to a reduction of media consumption, whereas other forms of guidance do not. Restriction of the use of one medium may lead to an increase of another medium offering a similar gratification. Children perceive differences between the guidance behavior of fathers and mothers. In this study parental guidance (measured as verbal cues) had an effect only on the media consumption of girls.

Text messaging as a cause of sleep interruption in adolescents, evidence from a cross-sectional study.

There is a small, but growing body of research looking at the impact of the mass media on young people’s sleep patterns. Lack of sleep and nightmares have been linked to television viewing (Van den Bulck, 2000). Sleep disturbances have been linked to the presence of a TV set in the child’s bedroom (Owens et al., 1991) and to computer game play (Tazawa and Okada, 2001). Media for interpersonal communication, however, appear not to have received similar attention. Increasingly, young children and adolescents have the use of a personal mobile phone, which they use a lot for text messaging (referred to as SMS). Some parents reported to the author that their children take their mobile phones to bed with them and leave them switched on to make sure they do not miss any incoming calls or messages. We added the question How often are you woken up at night by incoming text messages on your mobile phone? to the first wave of the Leuven Study on Media and Adolescent Health (SOMAH). Answer categories were (1) Never; (2) one to three times a month; (3) about once a week; (4) several times a week; (5) every day. Respondents were 2546 adolescents from the first and fourth grade of 15 randomly selected secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium; 50.2% of the sample were first-grade children. In the first grade the average age was 13.16 years (SD 1⁄4 0.43) and in the fourth grade the average age was 16.37 years (SD 1⁄4 0.71); 54.2% were boys. An analysis of variance was performed to determine whether significant differences existed between boys or girls and between first and fourth graders. A post hoc Tukey test at the P < 0.05 significance level, showed that significant differences existed between grades, but not between boys and girls. In the first grade, 73.3% of the respondents reported never to be disturbed in their sleep by incoming messages; 13.4% reported being woken up one to three times a month, 5.8% were woken up once a week, 5.3% were woken up several times a week and 2.2% were woken up every day. In the older, fourth grade, group 56.7% said their sleep was never interrupted by incoming messages; 20.8% was woken up between one and three times a month, 10.8% was woken up at least once a week, 8.9% was woken up several times a week and 2.9% was woken up every day. We asked the respondents to indicate how tired they felt in five conditions: (1) generally speaking, (2) in the morning when they got up, (3) at school, (4) after a day at school and (5) after the weekend. Answers were on an 11-point scale ranging from )5 (not tired at all) to +5 (extremely tired) with 0 as a neutral middle. In the first grade those respondents who reported being woken up by text messages at least occasionally were significantly more tired than those who were never woken up by messages (1) generally speaking, (3) at school and (5) after the weekend. In the fourth grade, those whose sleep was interrupted at least occasionally reported being tired significantly more on all five variables. These preliminary findings suggest that mobile telephones may be having a major impact on the quality of sleep of a growing number of adolescents. It affected a quarter of the youngest to almost half of the eldest children in the sample. The threat to healthy sleep patterns is potentially more important than the threat posed by entertainment media. The latter mainly appear to influence time to bed, while mobile phones actually seem to lead to interrupted sleep.

Viewership of pro‐anorexia websites in seventh, ninth and eleventh graders

OBJECTIVE To examine the prevalence of visiting pro-anorexia websites by 13-, 15- and 17-year old adolescents and to explore correlates of visiting such websites and predictors of anorexia nervosa (AN). METHOD Questionnaire in a sample of 711 secondary school children from the 7th, 9th and 11th grade in Flanders, Belgium. RESULTS 12.6% of the girls and 5.9% of the boys had visited such websites. In girls, visiting pro-anorexia websites was associated with a higher drive for thinness, worse perception of appearance and more perfectionism. CONCLUSION The prevalence of visiting pro-anorexia sites is non-trivial and the significant correlations between viewership of pro-ana sites and predictors of AN suggest a potential for negative impact of exposure to pro-ana sites. We conclude with some speculative remarks on the potential threat of the existence of pro-ana sites to organized health care.

Television viewing and age at smoking initiation : Does a relationship exist between higher levels of television viewing and earlier onset of smoking?

This cross-sectional study of children assessed the association between television viewing and age at smoking initiation, using self-reports administered by research assistants in schools. Participants were 909 students in their first and fourth years of secondary education in a random sample of 15 secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium, who had smoked at least one cigarette. The main outcome measure was age at smoking initiation. The independent variable was weekly television viewing volume. Gender, educational level, parental smoking, and peer smoking were the control variables. The relationship between television viewing and age at smoking initiation was significant. Higher levels of television viewing were related to earlier onset of smoking behavior in adolescents. The relationship of television viewing with age at smoking initiation was stronger than that of peer smoking, parental smoking, and gender. For each hour of television viewing per day, the average smoking initiation age decreased by 60 days. Heavier television viewers start smoking at an earlier age. Two possible explanations for this relationship are suggested. Social learning theory suggests that actors and actresses serve as behavioral role models for heavy viewers. Cultivation theory suggests that exposure to positive messages influences smoking attitudes. Further research should examine whether the relationship is causal and whether television acts as a provider of smoking role models or whether it influences smoking attitudes.

Testing the effectiveness of a skin cancer narrative in promoting positive health behavior: A pilot study

OBJECTIVE The aim of this experiment was to examine the differential impact of a narrative and a non-narrative skin cancer message on health promoting actions and information-seeking behaviors. METHODS Participants were 230 Flemish university students aged 18 to 25 years who participated in a web based experiment in February 2009. Students were randomly assigned to a narrative skin cancer message, a non-narrative message or a no-message control condition. The messages contained identical information about recommended actions to prevent or detect skin cancer. Four weeks after exposure to the stimuli, respondents received a questionnaire assessing their actual health behaviors. RESULTS Multinomial logistic regression results indicated that participants who had been exposed to the narrative message were two to four times more likely to have engaged in health promoting actions, compared to participants in the control group. In contrast, the impact of the non-narrative condition only differed from that of the control group for searching more information about skin cancer. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that narrative messages may be a powerful means for promoting positive health actions.

The Cultivation of Fear of Sexual Violence in Women: Processes and Moderators of the Relationship Between Television and Fear

Even though sexual violence has become more prevalent on television and is the crime women fear most in real life, the association between viewing and fear of sexual violence has received scant attention. Structural equation modeling of data from a random sample of 546 Flemish women supported a model in which fear of sexual violence was predicted by perceived risk, perceived control, and perceived seriousness. Flemish crime drama viewing predicted higher perceived risk. This relationship was stronger in women with high socioeconomic status and in those with no direct experience with crime. This suggests that identification may be an important mediator. News viewing predicted lower perceived risk. It is hypothesized that the relative lack of exemplars in news and victim blaming gives viewers the impression that the risk of sexual victimization does not apply to them.

Television Viewing, Internet Use, and Self-Reported Bedtime and Rise Time in Adults: Implications for Sleep Hygiene Recommendations From an Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study

This study examined whether the availability of the Internet and TV in the bedroom and overall Internet use and TV viewing were related to sleep variables in a sample of 711 residents of Flanders, Belgium. Although the relations were small, there was some evidence of time shifting: Internet access in the bedroom predicted later bedtime (β = .12, p < .05) and later rise time (β = .11, p < .05) on weekdays and later bedtime (β = .10, p < .001) on weekends. Internet use volume predicted later bedtime (β = .10, p < .001) and rise time (β = .07, p < .05) on weekends, and TV viewing predicted later bedtime (β = .10, p < .05) on weekends. However, neither the availability of the Internet or TV in the bedroom, nor the volume of Internet use or TV viewing, was a significant predictor of reduced sleep window or tiredness. Reducing media use might not be important for sleep hygiene advice to adults.