Research Findings

A 24-year-old told readers of Reddit (www.reddit.com/r/suicidewatch) of his intention to end his life, a forecast that proved accurate (see http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/08/31/reddit-suicide-how-the-internet-can-help-and-hurt.html). A log of the comments posted to him between the time of his announcement and his death revealed that although many offered help, some openly encouraged him to go through with the act.  

Annenberg Public Policy Center research analyzing 855 top box- office films from 1950 to 2006 shows that the portrayal of explicit and graphic suicide has tripled over that time. It also found no difference in the most explicit portrayals in films rated PG-13 versus those rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)

Former APPC Postdoctoral Fellow Cortney Evans, Ph.D., is the lead author of a forthcoming article, “Only Two Hours? A Qualitative Study of the Challenges Parents Perceive in Restricting Child Television Time,” which will appear in the Journal of Family Issues (September 2011). Dr. Evans’ co-authors are APPC Media and Developing Child Area Director Amy Jordan,

APPC Senior Research Analyst Michael Hennessy, Ph.D., and Adolescent Communication Institute Director Dan Romer, Ph.D., were among the authors of a paper, “Multiple Method Contraception Use Among African American Adolescents in Four US Cities,” published in the journal Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology (2011). Their research is part of a project designed to test

Results released today from the National Annenberg Survey of Youth (NASY) indicate that although concerns about excessive Internet use may be justified, heavy use of television may be an even larger concern. In one of the most extensive national surveys of media habits over a two-year period, six different types of media use were identified

Although athletics is a healthy and popular extracurricular activity in American high schools, it also has its risks. The recent poker craze among adolescents in the U.S. was driven largely by interest in poker play among high school male athletes, a just-released analysis of adolescent gambling in the National Annenberg Surveys of Youth (NASY) indicates.

The new volume, The Dynamic Genome and Mental Health: The Role of Genes and Environments in Youth Development, presents the results of a conference sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and Oxford University Press on the interrelations between genetic and environmental influences on youth mental health and development. The book

Joelle Sano Gilmore, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at APPC’s Annenberg Center for Advanced Study in Communication, presented research findings at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society in Philadelphia, PA on February 25, 2011. Dr. Gilmore discussed similarities between corporate underwriting spots during children’s programming on PBS and advertisements during children’s programming on commercial networks, including the use of child-friendly production techniques and the prevalence of spots

Results released today from the National Annenberg Survey of Youth reveal that 1 out of 7 or 14% of adolescents and young adults have experienced being a victim of cyberbullying (see Table 1 below). Those who experience cyberbullying report higher rates of thinking seriously about suicide in the past year (see Table 2 below). The

The annual analysis by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of news reporting during the previous winter holiday period reveals that newspapers continued to perpetuate the myth that suicides rise during the holidays. The proportion of stories that supported the myth during the 2009-2010 holidays remained at approximately the same level as during the previous