Short- and Long-Term Effects of Superhero Media on Young Children's Risk-Taking Behaviors

Unintentional poisoning exposures: how does modeling the opening of child-resistant containers influence children's behaviors?

OBJECTIVE

Unintentional poisoning in the home is a risk for children. Over-the-counter medicinal products in child-resistant containers (CRC) are common causes of pediatric poisoning. The current study examined children's abilities to open three types of CRC mechanisms (twist, flip, and push) and corresponding control containers, comparing their ability to do so spontaneously and after explicit modeling. The study also examined if inhibitory control (IC) was associated with children's overall score for spontaneous openings.

METHOD

Children 5-8 years old were randomly assigned to one of three mechanism conditions (between-participants factor): twist, flip, and push, with each child experiencing both a risk and a control container (within-participants factor) having that mechanism. Children were first left alone with a container (measures: engagement with container, spontaneous opening) for up to 2 min and subsequently observed an adult explicitly model opening the container before the child was asked to do so (measure: opening after modeling).

RESULTS

Children were more engaged with and likely to spontaneously open control containers than CRCs, though some (4%-10%) also opened CRCs. After modeling, significantly more children opened each of the three types of CRCs, with nearly all children opening the push mechanism CRC. IC positively predicted children being more engaged with and spontaneously opening more containers.

CONCLUSIONS

Implications for improving pediatric poison prevention are discussed.

Superhero Pretense, Superhero Identification, and Risk-Taking in Preschool-Aged Children

OBJECTIVE

The preschool years represent a stage of rapid human development, hallmarked by exploring the environment through gross and fine motor movement and imaginative pretend play. This exploration is developmentally appropriate but also presents risks for injury, the leading cause of death for preschool-aged children. Common injuries reflect exploration and risk-taking exhibited during play, and play may be particularly risky when children imitate risky models like superheroes. Frequent exposure and subsequent identification with superheroes are concerning because the media glorifies superheroes, creating social learning effects on children and promoting play situations where children may attempt superhuman abilities and hurt themselves. This study examined the relations between pretend play, superhero identification, and children's risk-taking.

METHODS

One hundred five children aged 4-5 years old were randomly assigned to either a superhero- or school-themed, story-based protocol. In both conditions, children engaged in three identical behavioral tasks to assess risk-taking. Identification with superheroes was measured using parent-report questionnaires and child interviews.

RESULTS

Pretending to be a superhero was not associated with increased risk-taking behavior acutely, but identification with superheroes was associated in some analyses with preschool children's broader risk-taking behavior. Across risk-taking behavior tasks, children with high superhero identification pretending to be superheroes tended to take the most risks.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the popularity of superhero media and the present results suggesting superhero identification may relate to injury-risk situations during play, prevention efforts should consider ways to reduce young children's exposure to superheroes and/or mitigate injury risk during active pretend play.

Focusing on Young Children in Pediatric Psychology Research: Introduction to the Special Issue on Young Children

This special issue focusing on pediatric psychology research in young children highlights 15 papers that focus on infants through preschoolers. Studies selected for inclusion cover a range of pediatric health conditions such as food allergy, medical trauma, injuries/traumatic brain injury, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, pain, and sleep. The inherent challenges of researching young children are described, and studies vary in their methods for assessment and intervention; multiple studies include an observational component or developmental evaluation. Six of the studies employ diverse samples of children and/or parents and demonstrate the feasibility as well as importance of increasing our understanding of factors related to health disparities. Taken together, the special issue demonstrates the high quality of research focusing on young children. As the special issue editors, we hope this collection will spark an interest in others to focus on research with young children across pediatric populations.