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If you are a white girl, a black girl or a black boy, exposure totoday's electronic media in the long run tends to make you feelworse about yourself. If you're a white boy, you'll feel better,according to a new study led by an Indiana University professor. Nicole Martins, an assistant professor of telecommunications in theIU College of Arts and Sciences, and Kristen Harrison, professor ofcommunication studies at the University of Michigan, also foundthat black children in their study spent, on average, an extra 10hours a week watching television. "We can't deny the fact that media has an influence when they'respending most of their time -- when they're not in school -- withthe television," Martins said. Harrison added, "Children who are not doing other things besideswatching television cannot help but compare themselves to what theysee on the screen." Their paper has been published in Communication Research. Martins and Harrison surveyed a group of about 400 black andwhite preadolescent students in communities in the Midwest over ayearlong period. Rather than look at the impact of particular showsor genres, they focused on the correlation between the time infront of the TV and the impact on their self-esteem. "Regardless of what show you're watching, if you're a white male,things in life are pretty good for you," Martins said of characterson TV. "You tend to be in positions of power, you have prestigiousoccupations, high education, glamorous houses, a beautiful wife,with very little portrayals of how hard you worked to get there. "If you are a girl or a woman, what you see is that women ontelevision are not given a variety of roles," she added. "The rolesthat they see are pretty simplistic; they're almost alwaysone-dimensional and focused on the success they have because of howthey look, not what they do or what they think or how they gotthere. "This sexualization of women presumably leads to this negativeimpact on girls." With regard to black boys, they are often criminalized in manyprograms, shown as hoodlums and buffoons, and without much varietyin the kinds of roles they occupy. "Young black boys are getting the opposite message: that there isnot lots of good things that you can aspire to," Martins said. "Ifwe think about those kinds of messages, that's what's responsiblefor the impact. "If we think just about the sheer amount of time they're spending,and not the messages, these kids are spending so much time with themedia that they're not given a chance to explore other thingsthey're good at, that could boost their self-esteem." Martins said their study counters claims by producers that programshave been progressive in their depictions of under-representedpopulations. An earlier study co-authored by her and Harrisonsuggests that video games "are the worst offenders when it comes torepresentation of ethnicity and gender." Other research is starting to show the impacts of other kinds ofentertainment sources, such as video games and hand-held devices.It indicates that young people are becoming creative at "mediamultitasking." "Even though these new technologies are becoming more available,kids still spend more time with TV than anything else," Martinssaid. Interestingly, the young people were asked about their consumptionof print media, but the results were not statistically significant. Martins conducted the research while she was completing her Ph.D.at the University of Illinois, as part of a larger longitudinalstudy done with her co-author, Harrison. They sought out certainschool districts in Illinois because of their diversity, butAfrican-Americans were the predominant minority group. Additional References Citations. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Welding Manipulator , China Metal Forming Machinery for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits H Beam Welding.
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