Effects of Media Use on Intimate Partner Violence Acceptance in Adolescents
Conference Year
January 2020
Abstract
It is undeniable that media use by adolescents has increased over time. Modern teenagers spend numerous hours in a day in front of screens. It has been shown in countless studies that this time may be influencing adolescent aggressive behavior, substance use, as well as physical and psychological health. By providing role models displaying dangerous behaviors, it has been indicated that media may be encouraging these actions and beliefs. There is a copious amount of media content highlighting abusive relationships as acceptable, and even desirable. Despite the amount of research on various media consumption effects, prior studies have yet to investigate any correlation with acceptance of intimate partner violence (IPV). This pilot study phase 1 aims to describe the amount of media consumed by adolescents per day and adolescent acceptance of IPV as well as to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed study structure. Results from phase one will be used to inform a second phase study, implementing a revised structure based on feedback from phase 1 and enrolling a larger population. A sample of adolescents (N=17) presenting to the Connecticut Children’s Emergency Department were enrolled and given a tablet survey with questions about their demographic information, media use, a validated IPV acceptance tool and feasibility questions. It was found that these adolescents consume an average of 9.18 hours per day (SD= 6.89) of media, 6.47 hours per day (SD= 4.68) on school days and 11.88 hours per day (SD= 7.77) on days without school. Scores for acceptance of male on female IPV (M= 1.48, SD= 0.87) were slightly higher in comparison to female on male (M= 1.69, SD= 0.88) and general IPV (M= 1.47, SD= 0.79), which received very similar scores. Results indicate that the study design is feasible to be used for a larger scale phase two study.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
John Green, Ph.D.
Faculty/Staff Collaborators
Danielle Chenard (Study Coordinator), Garry Lapidus, PA-C, MPH (Principal Investigator, Mentor)
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Arts and Sciences
Program/Major
Neuroscience
Primary Research Category
Health Sciences
Effects of Media Use on Intimate Partner Violence Acceptance in Adolescents
It is undeniable that media use by adolescents has increased over time. Modern teenagers spend numerous hours in a day in front of screens. It has been shown in countless studies that this time may be influencing adolescent aggressive behavior, substance use, as well as physical and psychological health. By providing role models displaying dangerous behaviors, it has been indicated that media may be encouraging these actions and beliefs. There is a copious amount of media content highlighting abusive relationships as acceptable, and even desirable. Despite the amount of research on various media consumption effects, prior studies have yet to investigate any correlation with acceptance of intimate partner violence (IPV). This pilot study phase 1 aims to describe the amount of media consumed by adolescents per day and adolescent acceptance of IPV as well as to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed study structure. Results from phase one will be used to inform a second phase study, implementing a revised structure based on feedback from phase 1 and enrolling a larger population. A sample of adolescents (N=17) presenting to the Connecticut Children’s Emergency Department were enrolled and given a tablet survey with questions about their demographic information, media use, a validated IPV acceptance tool and feasibility questions. It was found that these adolescents consume an average of 9.18 hours per day (SD= 6.89) of media, 6.47 hours per day (SD= 4.68) on school days and 11.88 hours per day (SD= 7.77) on days without school. Scores for acceptance of male on female IPV (M= 1.48, SD= 0.87) were slightly higher in comparison to female on male (M= 1.69, SD= 0.88) and general IPV (M= 1.47, SD= 0.79), which received very similar scores. Results indicate that the study design is feasible to be used for a larger scale phase two study.