literature reviews

50 Summer/Fall 2007 • Children and Libraries

T he concept that people can be harmed by exposure to various kinds of content is traceable to Plato.1 The specific category of person, the type of content, and the

nature of the harm it may induce vary over intervening centu- ries and across cultures.2

In the United States, the identification of children as a distinct group particularly vulnerable to putative harmful effects of exposure to certain types of content began in the late nine- teenth century.3 In 1968, the Supreme Court held in Ginsberg v. New York that material not deemed obscene for adults may nonetheless be considered “obscene with respect to minors.” This doctrine of variable obscenity promoted passage of fed- eral, state, and local laws preventing children’s access to mate- rial that is constitutionally protected for adults but regarded as “harmful to minors.”4 Ironically, most of the terms describing this issue are ill-defined and variable, including even the defini- tion of “harm.”

Sexually explicit content has been of concern as harmful to minors for more than a century. More recently, materials depicting or including violence, illegal drug use, and other top- ics have been proposed as harmful to youth. Sex and violence are two of the most frequently mentioned areas of concern, thus are the focus of this article.5

What We Know The research reviewed here refers to the effects of media con- tent, not on media as a vehicle of exposure to other sources of potential harm (for example, sexual predators on the Internet). Most research studies on potential harm to minors are on ado- lescents rather than younger children. It is noteworthy that a literature review reveals no research on the detrimental effects of book content on youth of any age; all studies were of other media.

Sexually Explicit Material

Although the assumption that children are harmed by exposure to sexually explicit material is well entrenched in the United States, there is very little research to support or refute it.6 Of particular concern is accidental exposure to sexual content, especially on the Internet. According to Mitchell, in 2005, 19 percent more ten- to twelve-year-olds and 35 percent more thirteen- to fifteen-year-olds reported encountering unwanted exposure to pornography on the Internet than in 2000.7 So we do know that incidents increased, but the authors made no assessment of whether these encounters caused any harm, and fewer than 10 percent of the youth reported these incidents as “distressing.”

Some studies demonstrate an association between amount of exposure to sexually explicit material in mainstream media and differences in adolescents’ attitudes toward sexual behavior.8 Adolescents with higher exposure levels have more permis- sive views of sexual activity before and outside of marriage, are more likely to regard sexual activity as recreational, and have more negative attitudes toward restrictions on sexually ori- ented materials. Jochen and Valkenburg found that the correla-

Prepared by the 2006–2007 ALSC Research and Develop- ment Committee: Eliza Dresang, chair; Gaye Hinchliff; Bowie Kotrla; Barbara Silverman; Rita Smith; Ya-Ling Lu;

and Crystal Faris.

REsearch And Development

Sex and Violence Is Exposure to Media Content Harmful to Children? Bowie Kotrla, ALSC Research and Development Committee

Summer/Fall 2007 • Children and Libraries 51

REsearch And Development tion between attitude and exposure is strongly influenced by male gender and perceived realism of the material.9 Collins reported a correlation between adoles- cents’ exposure to television programs containing talk about or depictions of sexual activity and earlier initiation of sexual activity, but others have not dis- covered any effect on behavior.10

Violent Material

In children and adolescents, greater exposure to violence in media has been correlated repeatedly to increased aggressive attitudes and behaviors.11 These correlations occur both for pas- sive television and film viewing and for interactive engagement with video and computer games. Almost all studies are of short-term effects only. In the only longitudinal study on childhood expo- sure to violent content, Huesmann et al. found a correlation between six- to nine- year-olds’ viewing of violence on televi- sion and aggressive behaviors, including criminal ones, of these same subjects in their early twenties.12 The perceived real- ism of the content is a significant factor in promoting aggressive behavior.13

Harm of Not Having Access

Although many studies exist on the harmful effect of lack of access to books and reading, they are generally not related to specific content. Recent stud- ies on Internet filtering demonstrate the potential harm of lack of access to spe- cific content, rather than the harm of exposure.

Teachers and students interviewed by Simmons and Sutton, respectively, reported many legitimate educational sites were blocked by school filters, including sites linked to textbooks used in the schools. The inability of students to access assigned content and explore topics that are part of the curriculum was perceived as frustrating and demor- alizing, as well as a serious impediment to learning.14

Richardson et al. found that an average of 24 percent of health information sites were blocked when six Internet filtering products commonly used in schools and libraries were tested at the most restric-

tive setting.15 They point out the signifi- cance of the Internet as a source of health information, especially for lower-income adolescents who are more dependent on libraries for access.

What We Don’t Know A particularly interesting topic about which we don’t know is whether or how the content of material printed in books is harmful to minors, as there seems to be no research on it!

We also don’t know whether exposure to sexual and violent content causes harm to minors because all the studies are correlational rather than experimental. Correlational research cannot control for the other factors known to be influ- ential in the development of attitudes and behaviors.16 It cannot demonstrate chronological relationships; for example, we don’t know whether violent content promotes violent behavior, or whether violent youth preferentially select violent content and are innately more suscep- tible to its effects.

What, Then, Can We As Librarians Do? Through our commitment to children’s information literacy, we are active in educating them in critical evaluation of all types of media resources. By provid- ing this instruction, we can help prevent harm to minors through preventing their unquestioning acceptance of content. Thornburgh and Lin make the analogy that while fencing and alarms are useful, the best way to prevent children from drowning in a pool is to provide swim- ming lessons.17

We can do some critical evaluation ourselves. We should question claims about this issue and read the evidence for ourselves. Furthermore, we can edu- cate parents, policy-makers, and others about the differences between causality and correlation.

Lastly, we can protect minors’ first amendment rights as outlined in ALA Intellectual Freedom policies and take seriously the potential for harm posed by lack of access to information.18 &

References and Notes

1. Marjorie Heins, Not in Front of the Children: “Indecency,” Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth (New York: Hill and Wang, 2001).

2. Ibid. 3. Ibid; Judith Levine, Harmful to

Minors (Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Pr., 2002).

4. For a review, see Amy L. Lavell, “In the Name of In(ternet)Decency: Laws Attempting to Regulate Content Deemed Harmful to Children,” Public Libraries 43, no. 6 (2004): 353–59.

5. Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association, “The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2006,” www.ala.org/ ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/ challengedbanned/ challengedbanned.htm#mfcb (accessed Mar. 27, 2007).

6. Liliana Escobar-Chaves et al., “Impact of the Media on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors,” Pediatrics 116, no. 1 (2005): 303–26; Heins, Not in Front of the Children; Levine, Harmful to Minors; Dick Thornburgh and Herbert S. Lin, Youth, Pornography, and the Internet (Washington, D.C., National Academies Pr., 2002).

7. Kimberly J. Mitchell, Janis Wolak, and David Finkelhor, “Trends in Youth Reports of Sexual Solicitations, Harassment and Unwanted Exposure to Pornography on the Internet,” Journal of Adolescent Health 40, no. 2 (2007): 116–26.

8. Escobar-Chaves et al., “Impact of the Media on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors”; Peter Jochen and Patti Valkenburg, “Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Online Material and Recreational Attitudes toward Sex,” Journal of Communication 56, no. 4 (2006): 639–60; Thornburgh and Lin, Youth, Pornography, and the Internet.

9. Jochen and Valkenburg, “Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Online Material and Recreational Attitudes toward Sex.”

10. Rebecca L. Collins et al., “Watching Sex on Television Predicts

52 Summer/Fall 2007 • Children and Libraries

REsearch And Development Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior,” Pediatrics 114, no. 3 (2004): 280–89.

11. Craig A. Anderson, Douglas A. Gentile, and Katherine E. Buckley, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents (New York: Oxford Univ. Pr., 2006); Kevin D. Browne and Catherine Hamilton- Giachritsis, “The Influence of Violent Media on Children and Adolescents: A Public-Health Approach,” The Lancet 365, no. 9460 (2005): 702–10; L. Rowell Huesmann et al., “Longitudinal Relations between Children’s Exposure to TV Violence and Their Aggressive and Violent Behavior in Young Adulthood: 1977–1992,” Developmental Psychology 39, no. 2 (2003): 201–21; Dorothy G. Singer and Jerome L. Singer, eds., Handbook of Children and the Media (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publ., 2001); Susan Villani, “Impact of Media on Children and Adolescents: A 10-Year Review of the Research,” Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 40, no. 4 (2001): 392–401.

12. Huesmann et al., “Longitudinal Relations between Children’s

Exposure to TV Violence and Their Aggressive and Violent Behavior in Young Adulthood.”

13. Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis, “The Influence of Violent Media on Children and Adolescents: A Public- Health Approach.”

14. Deborah G. Simmons, “Internet Filtering: The Effects in a Middle and High School Setting, “ Meridian 8, no. 1 (2005), www.ncsu.edu/ meridian/win2005/Internetfiltering/ index.html (accessed Mar. 4, 2007); Lynn Sutton, “Experiences of High School Students Conducting Term Paper Research Using Filtered Internet Access,” www.ala .org/ala/aaslbucket/pittsburgh/ ExperiencesofHighSchoolStudents .pdf (accessed Mar. 24, 2007).

15. Caroline R. Richardson et al., “Does Pornography-Blocking Software Block Access to Health Information on the Internet?” Journal of the American Medical Association 288, no. 22 (2002): 2887–94.

16. Anderson, Gentile, and Buckley, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents; Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis, “The Influence of Violent Media on Children and Adolescents”; Paul M. Haridakis, “Viewer Characteristics,

Exposure to Television Violence, and Aggression,” Media Pyschology 4, no. 4 (2002): 323–52; Huesmann et al., “Longitudinal Relations between Children’s Exposure to TV Violence and Their Aggressive and Violent Behavior in Young Adulthood”; Steven J. Kirsh, “The Effects of Violent Video Games on Adolescents: The Overlooked Influence of Development,” Aggression and Violent Behavior 8, no. 4 (2003): 377–89; Thornburgh and Lin, Youth, Pornography, and the Internet.

17. Thornburgh and Lin, Youth, Pornography, and the Internet.

18. For relevant information, see these ALA Web sites: www.ala.org/ala/ alsc/alscpubs/childrenthe internetpoliciesthatwork/ ChildrenInternetPolicies.htm (accessed Apr. 16, 2007); www.ala .org/aaslTemplate.cfm?Section =resourceguides&Template =/ContentManagement/ ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID =15025 (accessed Apr. 16, 2007); www.ala.org/ala/oif/ statementspols/statementspolicies .htm#minors (accessed Apr. 16, 2007).

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