Effects of Media Violence on Fears, Anxieties and Sleep Disturbances

Effects of Media Violence on Fears, Anxieties and Sleep Disturbances

Although most of researchers' attention has focused on how media violence affects the interpersonal behaviors of children and adolescents, there is growing evidence that violence viewing also induces intense fears and anxieties in young viewers. For example, a 1998 survey of more than 2,000 third through eighth graders in Ohio revealed that as the number of hours of television viewing per day increased, so did the prevalence of symptoms of psychological trauma, such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress. Similarly, a 2007 survey of the parents of almost 500 children in kindergarten through fourth grade in Rhode Island revealed that the amount of children=s television viewing (especially television viewing at bedtime) and having a television in one's own bedroom, were significantly related to the frequency of sleep disturbances

Indeed, 9% of the parents surveyed reported that their child experienced TV-induced nightmares at least once a week. Finally a random national survey conducted in 2007 reported that 62% of parents with children between the ages of two and seventeen said that their child had been frightened by something they saw in a TV program or movie.

Two independently conducted studies of adults' retrospective reports of having been frightened by a television show or movie demonstrate that the presence of vivid, detailed memories of enduring media-induced fear is nearly universal. Of the students reporting fright reactions in the study we conducted at the Universities of Wisconsin and Michigan, 52% reported disturbances in eating or sleeping, 22% reported mental preoccupation with the disturbing material, and 35% reported subsequently avoiding or dreading the situation depicted in the program or movie. Moreover, more than one-fourth of the respondents said that the impact of the program or movie (viewed an average of six years earlier) was still with them at the time of reporting.

Studies like these and many anecdotal reports reveal that it is not at all unusual to give up swimming in the ocean after seeing Jaws -- in fact, a surprising number of people report giving up swimming altogether after seeing that movie. Many other people trace their long-term fears of specific animals, such as dogs, cats, or insects, to childhood exposure to cartoon features like Alice in Wonderland or Beauty and the Beast or to horror movies. Furthermore, the effects of these depictions aren't only "in the head," so to speak. As disturbing as unnecessary anxieties are by themselves, they can readily lead to physical ailments and interfere with school work and other normal activities (especially when they disrupt sleep for long periods of time).

For the most part, what frightens children in the media involves violence or the perceived threat of violence or harm. It is important to note, however, that parents often find it hard to predict children's fright reactions to television and films because a child's level of cognitive development influences how he or she perceives and responds to media stimuli.