410.752.01 CHILDREN, MEDIA, AND HEALTH

Participants examine childrens use of media and its impact on health. Using a developmental perspective, this course considers different aged children (from preschoolers to teenagers), multiple media formats (print, radio, television, computer games and the internet) and various health concerns (food preferences, consumerism, smoking, violence, weight, and sexuality).

Upon successful completion of this course, students will: 1) Be able to characterize the developmental stages of childhood, from infancy through adolescence. 2) Know what types of media children use during these different developmental stages. 3) Become familiar and use different research methodologies used in Health Communication. 4) Perform an exercise where they do Content Analyses and two qualitative Interviews. 5) Identify and critique important elements that determine the positive and negative qualities of media used by children and adolescents. 6) Assess different media, including print, video, and computer technology. 7) Learn about and evaluate how theories and frameworks underlie the successful production of children’s media, focusing on Social Cognitive Theory. 8) Assess how other theories (especially Cultivation Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory) suggest the media impacts the behavior of children and adolescents.