Title: Media Portrayals | Children and Screens
Headings: 
Research Summary [ 1]
FAQs [ 1]
How do media, especially those targeting children, portray various social groups?
What do we know about any negative consequences that media stories about social groups might have on children’s development?
Can media stories of social groups also lead to positive impacts on children?
Key Takeaways [ 1]
Guidelines for Parents [ 1]
Sources
Additional Information

Content: These understandings are marked in part by social group categorization, with groups defined by race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and other aspects of human difference. The stories told in the media are a key source of such cues, and our review of the literature shows they have important implications for young people’s developing sense of self and of others. The emphasis for women on beauty and on having a particular body size and shape in the media, for example, contributes to body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, and other threats to health and well-being at increasingly younger ages. For youth of color, our review finds that having a video game avatar of the same race promotes identification whereas encountering stereotypical content associated with a same-race media character can induce stereotype threat, in which youth underperform on measures that correspond to the stereotypes. For primarily white audiences, our review shows that racial and ethnic media stereotypes can contribute to prejudice and racial bias and shape relevant political judgments. In our review, however, we argue that it is important to remember that positive effects can attend more diverse, inclusive, and fluid depictions of social groups in the media. Stories that demonstrate cross-group positive interaction have been shown to lead to diminished prejudice among children, for instance. We conclude our review with recommendations for clinicians, policy makers, and educators that include taking media effects on stereotypes and identity formation seriously, encouraging media literacy efforts, and opening up dialogue with young people about media. FAQs [ 1]
How do media, especially those targeting children, portray various social groups? Media portrayals across a range of genres, including news and entertainment, tend to focus on stories about dominant group members.