Does sexy media promote teen sex? A meta-analytic and methodological review

Parents and policy makers are often concerned that sexy media (media depicting or discussing sexual encounters) may promote sexual behavior in young viewers. There has been some debate among scholars regarding whether such media promote sexual behaviors. It remains unclear to what extent sexy media is a risk factor for increased sexual behavior among youth. The current study employed a meta-analysis of 22 correlational and longitudinal studies of sexy media effects on teen sexual behavior (n = 22,172). Moderator analyses examined methodological and science culture issues such as citation bias. Results indicated the presence only of very weak effects. General media use did not correlate with sexual behaviors (r = 0.005), and sexy media use correlated only weakly with sexual behaviors (r = 0.082) once other factors had been controlled. Higher effects were seen for studies with citation bias, and lower effects when family environment is controlled. The impact of media on teen sexuality was minimal with effect sizes near to zero

Mode effects between computer self-administration and telephone interviewer-administration of the PROMIS® pediatric measures, self- and proxy report

OBJECTIVE: To test equivalence of scores obtained with the PROMIS(®) pediatric Depressive Symptoms, Fatigue, and Mobility measures across two modes of administration: computer self-administration and telephone interviewer-administration. If mode effects are found, to estimate the magnitude and direction of the mode effects. METHODS: Respondents from an internet survey panel completed the child self-report and parent proxy-report versions of the PROMIS(®) pediatric Depressive Symptoms, Fatigue, and Mobility measures using both computer self-administration and telephone interviewer-administration in a crossed counterbalanced design. Pearson correlations and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were used to examine the effects of mode of administration as well as order and form effects. RESULTS: Correlations between scores obtained with the two modes of administration were high. Scores were generally comparable across modes of administration, but there were some small significant effects involving mode of administration; significant differences in scores between the two modes ranged from 1.24 to 4.36 points. CONCLUSIONS: Scores for these pediatric PROMIS measures are generally comparable across modes of administration. Studies planning to use multiple modes (e.g., self-administration and interviewer-administration) should exercise good study design principles to minimize possible confounding effects from mixed modes

Measuring adolescents’ well-being: Correspondence of naïve digital traces to survey data

Digital traces are often used as a substitute for survey data. However, it is unclear whether and how digital traces actually correspond to the survey-based traits they purport to measure. This paper examines correlations between self-reports and digital trace proxies of depression, anxiety, mood, social integration and sleep among high school students. The study is based on a small but rich multilayer data set (N = 144). The data set contains mood and sleep measures, assessed daily over a 4-month period, along with survey measures at two points in time and information about online activity from VK, the most popular social networking site in Russia. Our analysis indicates that 1) the sentiments expressed in social media posts are correlated with depression; namely, adolescents with more severe symptoms of depression write more negative posts, 2) late-night posting indicates less sleep and poorer sleep quality, and 3) students who were nominated less often as somebody's friend in the survey have fewer friends on VK and their posts receive fewer "likes." However, these correlations are generally weak. These results demonstrate that digital traces can serve as useful supplements to, rather than substitutes for, survey data in studies on adolescents' well-being. These estimates of correlations between survey and digital trace data could provide useful guidelines for future research on the topic