Journal of Adolescent Health
Volume 31, Issue 6, Supplement , Pages 153-170, December 2002

The mass media and American adolescents’ health☆

  • Jane D Brown, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence to: Jane D. Brown, Ph.D., School of Journalism and Mass Communication, CB#3365, Carroll Hall, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3365, USA.
    • School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
    • ,
  • Elizabeth M Witherspoon, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.

Accepted 22 August 2002.

Abstract 

American teens today grow up in a world saturated with the mass media. In general, the media depict a world in which unhealthy behaviors such as physical aggression, unprotected sex, smoking, and drinking are glamorous and risk-free. We summarize what is known about the media’s effects on four adolescent health issues that have been studied most comprehensively: violence and aggression; sex; obesity, nutrition, and eating disorders; and alcohol and tobacco use. A number of approaches that have potential for helping turn the media into more positive forces for adolescents’ health are discussed

Keywords:  Adolescents, Aggression, Alcohol, Cigarette smoking, Eating disorders, Mass media, Nutrition, Obesity, Sexuality, Violence

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☆ Portions of this article have been published previously in Brown JD, Witherspoon E. The mass media and the health of adolescents in the United States. In: Kamalipour YR, Rampal KR (eds). Media, Sex, Violence and Drugs in the Global Village. Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001:77–96. Reproduced by permission of Rowman & Litlefield Publishers.

PII: S1054-139X(02)00507-4

Journal of Adolescent Health
Volume 31, Issue 6, Supplement , Pages 153-170, December 2002

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