Review Questions Chapter 8a Leisure and media Leisure 1 What proportion of waking time is spent on leisure on average What on productive activities What on maintenance activities like 50 25 25 on average Are there major SES or ethnic differences Suburban middle class white teens less leisure more productive same maintenance 45 77 leisure more sports 28 79 productive more on classwork hw 23 58 maintenance more eating Urban poor African American teens more leisure less productive same maintenance 53 77 leisure more TV idling 21 61 productive 24 62 maintenance Not really any major SES differences but for younger adolescents higher income more educated families spend less time on TV video games music and more time on the computer Low income families spend more TV video game music time but less computer time most likely because they don t have computers at home 2 What are the differences in academic time commitment between American and Asian adolescents American adolescents less than 5 hours per week on HW Asian adolescents 4 to 5 hours per day on HW 3 Explain the experience sampling method It is a research method developed by Larson where you ask participants to stop at certain times make notes of their experience in real time recording feelings emotions Feelings experiences can be recorded in a journal open ended questions or through a scale It is best to not let subjects know in advance when they will record their feelings so they don t anticipate an answer they ll be acting naturally Ex recording greater happiness after a meal 4 Describe moods as a function of the people adolescents are with Adolescents with friends higher mood overall family worse mood from 5th 9th grade but better mood after 9th grade alone bad mood thinking about bad things 5 What seem to be the effects of being alone More likely to have negative thoughts less happiness More likely to worry about little things that happened in the day like someone looking at you weirdly or criticizing you More like to ruminate 6 Describe the combinations of concentration and motivation among various activities that adolescents can be engaged in What is the conclusion as to incidence of the most positive mental states For sports arts hobbies organization structured leisure high concentration high intrinsic motivation For school in class high concentration but low intrinsic motivation For time with friends low concentration but high intrinsic motivation So most positive mental states are with someone rather than no one good use of leisure 7 What extracurricular activities are most popular among American teens Athletics sports are most popular for American teens 50 Next most popular is music band chorus orchestra glee club 25 Next is academic science club language clubs 20 8 What is the effect of involvement in extracurricular activities on achievement Participating in extracurricular activities less likely to drop out of school no matter if you are low or high risk student Generally higher achievement among students as opposed to no extracurriculars School becomes a more positive place to be Another reason to keep attending school it is important that students stay on the education track 9 What are the factors related to problem behavior during unstructured leisure time 3 factors 1 lack of structure a lot of free leisure time 2 no adult supervision long distance or just less supervision 3 Number of peers more peers more influence to do bad things 5 heads are better than 1 10 What types of things can parents do to prevent problem behavior as a result of unstructured leisure time Encourage involvement in extracurriculars to take up unstructured leisure time Good mental engagement less likely to have problems Media 11 What types of media are adolescents exposed to What are the age and gender trends Types of media books magazines radio TV films internet video games music 8 10 year olds 7 hours mostly TV more than 66 have a TV in room 12 13 year olds 8 hours 15 18 year olds 7 hours mostly music average of a standard workday of 8 hours Boys more TV more video computer games Girls more music both sexes use computer equally 12 What are the general findings on the effects of exposure to sex violence and drug use in media on the attitudes and behaviors of adolescents with respect to these issues Generally sex violence drug use in the media makes adolescents think it s cool or okay to do these things sex smoking drinking Seeing these things in the media reassures teens that it is the social norm to engage in these activities 13 What is the uses and gratifications view of adolescents and the media What types of reasons do people have to engage with media Recognize research that takes this approach Uses gratifications approach an approach to understanding how adolescents choose which media to attend to what they get from their choices figure out why people use media 6 categories Diversion use media to relax have fun relieve boredom entertain themselves manage moods Cognition media communicate info on everything Social utility going to movie watching video listening to music with friends is norm for adolescents even those who do this alone can talk with friends about it the next day Withdrawal headphones on world off get away shut out people Personal identity grapple with personal values attitudes goals ambitions real people known through media or fictional characters offer answers to teens questions High sensation teens seek out excitement or high sensation activities loud music speed Research One study looked at reactions of young adolescent girls to sexual material in media like nudity in ads Results girls who did not reach menarche yet found it gross girls who reach menarche but not sexually active yet found it fascinating girls who reached menarche sexually active found it uninteresting 14 What is the cultivation theory view of adolescents and the media Recognize research that takes this approach Cultivation theory media constantly retells a selective biased set of myths ideologies that define social thinking in a society The more people watch the more the experience cultivates a shared set of ideas about the world teens who watch soap operas are more likely to think single mothers have it easier than in reality 15 What did we see in class about the views cultivated in the media about body image and sex in various time periods Song lyrics are more sex based than before gets more lenient on explicit content throughout the decades Trend