Marie-Louise Mares

Positive Effects of Television on Children's Social Interactions: A Meta-Analysis

We conducted a meta-analysis of 34 studies of the positive effects of television on childrens social interactions, levels of aggression, altruism, and levels of stereotyping (a total of 108 effect sizes, 5,473 children). Across dependent measures, there were consistent moderate positive effects for those who watched prosocial content in experimental settings compared to control groups or those who watched antisocial content. Moreover, the positive effect of self-selected exposure to prosocial content was as strong as the negative effect of self-selected exposure to violent content. Effects were largest for depictions of altruism, primarily because such content tended to involve explicit modeling of desired behaviors. Strong negative effects occurred in the few studies where children watched aggressive prosocial content.

Elderly Viewers' Responses to Televised Portrayals of Old Age Empathy and Mood Management Versus Social Comparison

This study examined the effects of differently valenced portrayals of old age on the emotional responses of elderly viewers. Lonely and nonlonely elderly people (as determined in a pretest) were given a series of descriptions of television offerings and indicated the degree to which they desired to see each program. In a separate session, they were randomly assigned to view a negative portrayal (involving an unhappy, isolated old man) or a positive portrayal (involving a happy, socially integrated old man). The results indicated that lonely subjects showed greater interest in viewing negative than positive portrayals, whereas nonlonely subjects exhibited the opposite preference. In addition, lonely subjects felt better after viewing the negative portrayal than after the positive portrayal, whereas nonlonely subjects felt better after the positive than after the negative portrayal. The findings therefore indicated that elderly viewers may benefit from varied portrayals of old age more than from uniformly positive or negative depictions.

Background Television and Reading Performance.

An experiment was conducted testing Armstrong and Greenbergs (1990) model of the effect of background television on cognitive performance, as it applies to reading comprehension and memory. Subjects completed a cued‐recall test of the content of an expository prose passage read under quiet conditions or concurrently with the presence of one of two types of television content (prime‐time drama versus commercials). Effects on immediate versus delayed recall were examined. Overall, significant deleterious effects of background television were found, controlling for prior abilities and motivation. Deleterious effects were stronger and more consistent when testing occurred immediately after reading, rather than after a five‐minute filled delay. Background commercials resulted in more consistently negative effects than did TV drama.

Age Differences in Adults Emotional Motivations for Exposure to Films

Participants in three age ranges (younger adults, 18–25, N = 188; middle adults, 26–49, N = 92; and older adults, 50 and over, N = 93) completed a questionnaire assessing motivations for everyday affective experiences as well as affective motivations for film viewing. In line with Arnetts (2000) view of emerging adulthood and Carstensen, Isaacowitz, and Charless (1999) theory of socioemotional selectivity, younger adults expressed the greatest interest in experiencing negative emotions in their everyday lives, in viewing dark, creepy, or violent content, and in viewing media to escape boredom and for amusement; older adults were most interested in experiencing emotional stability and in viewing films with uplifting, heartwarming content. Results suggest that lifespan differences may help explain the allure of hedonically negative programming among some groups.

Children's Use of VCRs:

This study relies on a national survey of parents and children and interviews with children to assess the extent and nature of use of videocassette recorders (VCRs) by children and adolescents. It reports on developmental changes in the use of VCRs for repeated viewing of videos, as well as childrens descriptions of when and why they rewind and fast-forward videos.

Using Television to Foster Children's Interest in Science:

Two studies explored the conditions that facilitate positive responses to childrens television programs involving science. In Study 1, children enjoyed televised science content more and learned more from it when it was presented in the context of a related feature story than when it was shown out of this context. Children also responded more positively when the segment was not explicitly labeled as “science.” In Study 2, repeated exposure to a weekly childrens magazine show with regular segments involving science in context was associated with more favorable attitudes toward science, whether the viewing occurred in school or at home.

Repetition Increases Children's Comprehension of Television Content—Up to a Point

Two studies examined the effects of repeated viewing on childrens comprehension of videos. In Study 1, 72 children aged 6–8 watched The Sword in the Stone. Afterwards, children who had seen the film before were compared with those for whom the film was novel. In Study 2, 291 children aged 4–8, watched one of two versions of a short story in which the main characters appearance was incongruous with her behavior. Children were tested after one or four exposures. Results of both studies indicated that repetition reduced initial developmental differences in comprehension and helped younger children inhibit the perceptual salience of characters’ appearance. However, childrens understanding of the more complex causal sequences and the moral of the film in Study 1 remained low, despite prior exposure.

Integrating addiction treatment into primary care using mobile health technology: protocol for an implementation research study

BackgroundHealthcare reform in the United States is encouraging Federally Qualified Health Centers and other primary-care practices to integrate treatment for addiction and other behavioral health conditions into their practices. The potential of mobile health technologies to manage addiction and comorbidities such as HIV in these settings is substantial but largely untested. This paper describes a protocol to evaluate the implementation of an E-Health integrated communication technology delivered via mobile phones, called Seva, into primary-care settings. Seva is an evidence-based system of addiction treatment and recovery support for patients and real-time caseload monitoring for clinicians.Methods/DesignOur implementation strategy uses three models of organizational change: the Program Planning Model to promote acceptance and sustainability, the NIATx quality improvement model to create a welcoming environment for change, and Rogers’s diffusion of innovations research, which facilitates adaptations of innovations to maximize their adoption potential. We will implement Seva and conduct an intensive, mixed-methods assessment at three diverse Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers in the United States. Our non-concurrent multiple-baseline design includes three periods — pretest (ending in four months of implementation preparation), active Seva implementation, and maintenance — with implementation staggered at six-month intervals across sites. The first site will serve as a pilot clinic. We will track the timing of intervention elements and assess study outcomes within each dimension of the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance framework, including effects on clinicians, patients, and practices. Our mixed-methods approach will include quantitative (e.g., interrupted time-series analysis of treatment attendance, with clinics as the unit of analysis) and qualitative (e.g., staff interviews regarding adaptations to implementation protocol) methods, and assessment of implementation costs.DiscussionIf implementation is successful, the field will have a proven technology that helps Federally Qualified Health Centers and affiliated organizations provide addiction treatment and recovery support, as well as a proven strategy for implementing the technology. Seva also has the potential to improve core elements of addiction treatment, such as referral and treatment processes. A mobile technology for addiction treatment and accompanying implementation model could provide a cost-effective means to improve the lives of patients with drug and alcohol problems.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01963234).

Teaching Inclusiveness via TV Narratives in the US

The central hypothesis was that childrens interpretations of pro-tolerance TV content explain why such content may be ineffective or counterproductive. The goal was to examine whether comprehension and ensuing attitudes could be improved by adding short explanatory inserts. A total of 128 children aged 4–6 were randomly assigned to watch one of two episodes depicting initial hostility followed by friendliness (either with or without inserts), or to watch a control episode unrelated to tolerance. There were significant effects of the inserts, but also of the episodes. For one of the episodes, there were no significant differences in inclusiveness relative to the control group unless the inserts were included; for the other, there were significant negative effects on inclusiveness unless the inserts were included. Childrens interpretations of the content mediated the effects of inserts and episode on levels of inclusiveness.

Pessimism and Anxiety: Effects of Tween Sitcoms on Expectations and Feelings About Peer Relationships in School

Television programs for tweens (roughly 8–14 year olds) offer glimpses of life in high school, often depicting prototypical crowds (e.g., jocks and populars) and various forms of interpersonal hostility. Fifth graders (N = 97) were randomly assigned to watch a tween television episode that was high or low in social conflict (two exemplars at each level) and then answered questions about their future middle school and their habitual exposure to tween television programs. Consistent with predictions afforded by the General Aggression Model (Anderson & Bushman, 2002), habitual exposure was associated with expectations of encountering specific crowds in middle school (person schemata), with expectations of less friendliness and more bullying (behavioral scripts), and with greater anxiety about attending their future school. Similarly, those who saw high-conflict episodes anticipated more hostility and less friendliness in their future school and felt more anxious and less positive about going there than those who saw low-conflict episodes (effects that were partly mediated by perceptions of character hostility). There were also significant interactions between habitual and experimental exposure: Participants who did not habitually watch tween programs and who saw a high-conflict episode resembled habitual viewers in their lowered expectations of friendliness and heightened expectations of hostility.