Public and scholarly debate about the effects of media on youth has been a topic of concern since the twentieth century. These concerns were further amplified and accelerated with heavy use of and ...reliance on media for everyday living and learning with the homebound conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the public discourse about children’s media use and school safety concerns, we conducted online interviews of 36 young people ages 9–14 years to learn about (1) their life situations, including school experience, (2) their overall media use, (3) their overall worries and difficulty with their situations, and (4) their stress management and coping strategies during the fall semester of 2020. While tweens reported using media more during the pandemic than before, media did not seem to completely displace other activities. Tweens engaged in media, non-media, and hybrid coping strategies to relieve stress, enhance their mood, and stay connected to others outside their home. This qualitative study was a first step in understanding the effect of COVID-19 on tweens within the context of their coping and resiliency building, and how media factor into these processes.
Highlights
The tweens in this study experienced a wide variety of formats for their schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic with most experiencing at least some type of virtual education (hybrid or completely online).
Tweens were using more media in the fall of 2020 than before the COVID-19 pandemic, and they shared that they use the media as a tool to attend school, to help with schoolwork, to connect with others, and for mood management.
The most frequently mentioned coping strategy by the tweens involved using media in various ways.
Hybrid media and non-media strategies were developed such that media enhanced non-media activities.
The tweens in this study sought a variety of coping strategies which involved media, ignored media, and integrated media.
Family life was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as members adjusted to living, working, and learning at home. Media and technology became a central tool to manage these activities ...simultaneously for different family members. This survey of 608 parents of 9- to 13-year-olds examines youth media use in this narrowly defined age group and also examines factors such as gender and parental worry about the pandemic. The vast majority of parents (83.7%) reported that their children were using media more during the COVID-19 pandemic than before. As with more use, parents reported varying purchases of media devices for the household, mobile devices for their children, and account creation in social media platforms for their children. Of the social media platforms available, parents most frequently allowed their tweens to create an account on TikTok (25%), followed by Facebook Messenger (23%) and Instagram (17%). On comparing girls and boys, it was found that significantly more girls than boys created TikTok accounts, whereas significantly more boys than girls created Instagram, Discord, and Twitter accounts. Established patterns of media use by gender before the pandemic were maintained. Boys continued to play video games, and girls watched videos. Because older tweens were more likely to already have social media accounts, we observed an influx of younger users on social media. In addition, parents who were more worried about the pandemic indicated their tween used media more overall and spent more time on a laptop or desktop computer than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Policy Relevance StatementDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, parents of tweens (9- to 13-years-olds) reported increased use of screen time for their children, creation of social media accounts for younger tweens, and purchases of new devices, even in media-saturated homes. Moreover, preexisting patterns of media use by gender continued. Parental worry about the pandemic was also related to overall media use for their children and their child's computer use more specifically.
This study explores children's responses to animated, ficational characters when honesty is put to the test through behaviors of racialized, peer-like media characters. Children (n = 178, aged 8-13 ...years) viewed an episode of a popular U.S. television program, Nickelodeon's The Loud House, with a dishonest White character (Lincoln) or an honest Black character (Clyde). The findings confirm that Clyde who is portrayed as honest is seen as more honest, higher in morality, and liked more than Lincoln who deliberately lies. Race did not impact how much children like the White character (Lincoln), but Black children reported liking the Black character (Clyde) more than White children. Children who have previously seen the show are more likely to like and have a stronger parasocial relationship with the characters, with a regression pinpointing this is most important for Lincoln, the White character. The main finding that the regression analyses tease out is that it is the parasocial relationship that is significantly positively related to how likable and moral the children rate the characters, not race and racial attitudes. Implications are discussed within a context of mediated contact, social construction of identity and groups, and moral judgements.
Prior State of Knowledge: Previous research suggests that youth can learn moral behaviors from media characters. However, few television studies with youth have examined character honesty and race in a research investigation.
Novel Contributions: Children who feel emotionally connected to a media character can be more accepting of problematic behavior of the character. Racial bias and preferences for Black or White media characters indicate that racial awareness is salient for youth.
Practical Implications: Children's relationships with media characters can have implications on their learning about consequences of moral behaviors. Practitioners should be thoughtful in their representations of characters, particularly children of color, reaching for more positive portrayals of children of color as a means to mitigate judgment of others and enhance interracial relationships.
ABSTRACT
1. European hares Lepus europaeus have declined throughout Europe since the 1960s. Possible reasons for this include agricultural intensification and changes in climate and predator numbers, ...but no clear consensus has been reached as to the relative importance of each of these. We aimed to identify factors associated with high and low hare numbers throughout Europe, to determine which could have caused population declines.
2. Results of 77 research papers from 12 European countries were summarized. Relationships between hare density and demographics and habitat, climate, hunting and predator variables were examined and quantified where possible. Temporal changes in factors identified as being associated with high or low numbers of hares were then examined to see if they could explain population declines.
3. Data from pastural habitats were limited, but densities of hares were low. Arable habitats had higher densities than mixed areas in spring, unless farming was intensive in which case densities were similar. In autumn the two habitats had similar densities. Field size, temperature, precipitation and hunting had no effect on density throughout Europe. Fecundity was affected by climate.
4. Arable land, various crops, fallow habitat and temperature were positively associated, and monoculture, precipitation and predators negatively associated with hare abundance. The relationship of field size, pasture and woodland with abundance depended on spatial scale.
5. Habitat changes caused by agricultural intensification are the ultimate cause of hare population declines. Effects of changes in climate or predator numbers are magnified by the loss of high‐quality year‐round forage and cover. Further research is required on how habitat changes affect fecundity and survival, and to identify which parameters have the greatest impact on population numbers. Farmland management policies that target the re‐establishment of some of the habitat diversity lost within fields, farms and landscapes will help to reverse the decline of the European hare.
Insects are the principal food for many animals, including bats (Chiroptera), and all species of bats in the United Kingdom feed over agricultural habitats. Bat populations are declining throughout ...Europe, probably in part as a result of agricultural intensification. Organic farming prohibits the use of agrochemicals, a major component of agricultural intensification, making it an ideal control for a study of intensive agricultural systems. To evaluate the impact of agricultural intensification on bat foraging, we quantified the availability of bat prey by comparing nocturnal aerial insects captured within habitats on 24 matched pairs of organic and conventional farms. Insects were identified to family and moths to species. We compared the abundance of 18 insect families commonly eaten by bats in the United Kingdom between farm types and tested for correlations of abundance with bat activity. Insect abundance, species richness, and moth species diversity were significantly higher on organic farms than on conventional farms. Insect abundance was significantly higher in pastural and water habitats on organic farms than in the same habitats on conventional farms. Of the 18 insect families that are important components of the bat diet, 5 were significantly more abundant on organic farms overall. Some were also more abundant within organic pastural, woodland, and water habitats than on conventional farmland habitats. The activity of bats that mainly ate lepidoptera was significantly correlated with the abundance of this order. Our observations suggest that agricultural intensification has a profound impact on nocturnal insect communities. Because bats are resource limited, a reduction in prey availability through agricultural intensification will adversely affect bat populations. Less-intensive farming benefits British bat populations by providing and maintaining diverse and structurally varied habitats, which in turn support a wide selection of insect prey for bats, including insect families that are significant components of the diet of a number of rare bat species.
The pro-anorexia movement provides support for those with anorexia and adopts an ‘anti-recovery’ view of the disease.The internet has allowed pro-anorexia followers (proanas) to exchange messages in ...anonymous virtual communities where they encourage one another to be thin. Through the analysis of pro-ana websites using grounded theory, four themes encompassing eight communicative strategies were identified: 1) co-constructing an ana personal identity; 2) self-loathing ana; 3) advising ana; and, 4) group ana encouragement. An emergent grounded model explicates underlying theoretical principles that indicate a new type of social support group, the Online Negative Enabling Support Group (ONESG), in which members encourage negative or harmful behaviors, accept ‘self’ or ‘other’ negative messages without correction from others and co-construct an affectionate ‘enabling in-group’ that evolves online ‘weak-tie’ support into ‘strong ties’ used to combat stigma in their offline world.
1. Questionnaires, or social surveys, are used increasingly as a means of collecting data in ecology. We present a critical review of their use and give recommendations for good practice. 2. We ...searched for papers in which questionnaires were used in 57 ecological academic journals, published over the period 1991-2003 inclusive. This provided a total sample size of 168 questionnaires from 127 papers published in 22 academic journals. 3. Most questionnaires were carried out in North America and western Europe, and addressed species-level issues, principally focusing on mammals. The majority were concerned with impacts of species and/or their conservation, and just under half with human-wildlife interactions. 4. Postal survey was the method used most frequently to carry out the questionnaires, followed by in-person interviews. Some questionnaires were conducted by telephone, and none was web-based. 5. Most questionnaires were concerned with obtaining factual information or perceptions of facts. Ground-truthing (independent verification of the facts) was carried out in less than 10% of questionnaires. 6. The mean (± SE) sample size (number of respondents) per questionnaire was 1422 ± 261 and the average (± SE) response rate was 63 ± 3%. These figures varied widely depending on the methods used to conduct the questionnaire. 7. The analysis of data was mostly descriptive. Simple univariate methods were the most frequently used statistical tools, and data from a third of questionnaires were not subjected to any analysis beyond simple descriptions of the results. 8. Synthesis and applications. We provide recommendations for best practice in the future use of questionnaires in ecology, as follows: (i) the definition of the target population, any hypotheses to be tested and procedures for the selection of participants should be clearly documented; (ii) questionnaires should be piloted prior to their use; (iii) the sample size should be sufficient for the statistical analysis; (iv) the rationale for the choice of survey method should be clearly stated; (v) the number of non-respondents should be minimized; (vi) the question and answer format should be kept as simple as possible; (vii) the structure of the questionnaire and the data emerging from it should be unambiguously shown in any publication; (viii) bias arising from non-response should be quantified; (ix) the accuracy of data should be assessed by ground-truthing where relevant; (x) the analysis of potentially interrelated data should be done by means of modelling. Researchers should also consider whether alternative, interpretative methods, such as in-depth interviews or participatory approaches, may be more appropriate, for example where the focus is on elucidating motivations or perceptions rather than testing factual hypotheses.
This article summarizes research published over the past decade and identifies areas where future research is needed to increase our knowledge of the media's role in fostering or reducing mental ...illness stigma. The following questions are addressed: (1) How is mental illness portrayed by the media? (2) How do media images of mental illness impact individuals' knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors with regard to mental illness? (3) How can the media be used to reduce mental illness stigma? The review reveals a lack of recent research on the U.S. media and a need for precision in how mental illness and the media are defined for study. Research is needed that involves a broader range of media channels as well as more distinctions among different types of content within channels and a more detailed analysis of media images themselves. The largest gap to be addressed is the link between exposure to media images and mental illness stigma. Use of the media as a tool for change requires a better understanding of what messages are conveyed, how they are developed, and what role media content producers play in creating these messages.
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