The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #65637

Yi-Hua Chen, PhD, General Education Center, Taipei Medical University (Taiwan), No. 250, Wu-Xing St., Taipei, 110, Taiwan, 011-886-2-2736-3266, yichen@tmu.edu.tw and Hung-Yi Chiou, PhD, Department of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, No. 250, Wu-Sing St., Taipei, 110, Taiwan.

Media's impact on adolescents°¦developmental trajectories has been a public concern; however, how and what makes the mechanism essentially operate have not comprehensively explained. This cross-sectional study examined the hypothesis that'Message Interpretation Process' (MIP), parental discussion, and peer norm were potential factors that influenced the association between youth's violence and their exposure of violent contents on TV/internet. Data were from 780 adolescents aged 12-18 in Taipei, Taiwan. Logistic regression was used to test the hypothesis, and showed moderate to strong associations between youth's violent behaviors and the exposure of scary, violent/bloody, and sexual contents on TV/internet (OR = 2.5 (95% CI=1.3, 4.5), OR = 2.2 (95% CI=1.2, 5.9), and OR = 6.4 (95% CI=1.8, 9.4), respectively). Youth who considered violence was associated with social stigma was significantly less likely to behave violently (OR =0.3, 95% CI=0.1, 0.8), compared to those who recognized as°¥no affect,°¦after the effects of potential confounders were controlled. MIP and parental discussion on TV/internet contents exhibited protective effects on adolescents' violence (OR raged from 0.6 to 0.8). Structural equation models were further employed to examine the potential mediating effects of MIP and modifying effects of parental discussion and peer norm in the association between media's impacts and youth's violent behaviors. This study extends previous understanding on how media operates to affect the development of youth's problematic behaviors. Effective intervention and prevention programs may further be more efficiently designed and administered by fitting in the crucial roles of MIP, parental discussion and peer norm cognition.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this presentation, the participant will be able to:
• have a more comprehensive picture of the mechanism on how media operates to influence youth's violence,
• understand how the factors of¡¥Message Interpretation Process,' parental discussion, and peer norm function to affect youth's violent behaviors, 3)have a portray on the current situation of youth's violence problems in Taiwan, and
• consider the effects of risk factors on adolescents¡¦maladaptive status and behaviors.

Keywords: Media, Adolescents, International

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.