Elizabeth A. Vandewater

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Senior Research Fellow at University of Texas at Austin

BACKGROUND Today’s Native Hawaiians (NHs), American Indians (AIs), and Alaska Natives(ANs)are the contemporary descendants of the original Indigenous peoples who occupied lands before the arrival of European explorers and settlers and the establishment of the United States (US) of America. AIs and ANs are defined explicitly as citizens of sovereign...

Background: A growing body of literature suggests that many people who use e-cigarettes become dependent and have difficulty quitting. Most people who use e-cigarettes have interest in quitting, yet there is currently a lack of evidence to inform interventions for e-cigarette cessation. Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify factors a...

Most e-cigarette users report planning to quit, but there is a paucity of evidence-based interventions for e-cigarette cessation. In the absence of interventions for e-cigarette cessation, we sought to understand how and why e-cigarette users attempt to quit on their own. Participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online crowdsourc...

Introduction: Tobacco-related content is prevalent on social media, yet many methods of measuring exposure are inadequate due to the personalized nature of online marketing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between exposure to pro-tobacco messages (both industry-sponsored and user-generated) and the use of tobacco products,...

Part 1 of this first-of-its-kind 3-part series can help show how to break down the cycles of ignorance, shame, and toxic stress that harm children who identify as LGBTQ+ and improve their chances of leading happy, healthy adult lives. https://shop.aap.org/pediatric-collections-lgbtq-support-and-care-part-1-combatting-stigma-and-discrimination/

Background This study examines whether self-reported exposure to cigarette, e-cigarette, cigar, and hookah advertising, and engagement with pro-tobacco and anti-tobacco social media, are associated with past 30-day tobacco use one-year later, among young adults. Methods Data were from two waves of the Marketing and Promotions Across Colleges in Te...

Objectives: In this study, we examine the prevalence and demographic, social, and behavioral characteristics associated with college students' exposure to and engagement with tobaccorelated social media, in a diverse sample from the Marketing and Promotions Across Colleges in Texas Study (N = 4384). Methods: We used multiple logistic regression to...

Introduction: Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) allows for assessment of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use in real-time. This EMA study aimed to 1) describe study participation rates; 2) evaluate the concordance of EMA and survey items measuring frequency and quantity of ENDS use; and 3) assess the relationships between EMA items...

Background: Bias-based bullying is associated with negative outcomes for youth, but its contextual predictors are largely unknown. Voter referenda that target lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups may be 1 contextual factor contributing to homophobic bullying. Methods: Data come from 14 consecutive waves (2001-2014) of cross-sectional s...

BACKGROUND Through the Texas Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration study, we implemented and evaluated a system‐oriented model of primary and secondary prevention approaches to mitigate obesity among low‐income Texas children aged 2 to 12 years. Primary prevention included implementing the Coordinated Approach To Child Health Early Childhood (CA...

Previous scholarship examining Erikson's (1980) constructs of generativity versus stagnation, and ego integrity versus despair has primarily focused on generativity or ego integrity, with little examination of stagnation or despair. The current study uses four waves of longitudinal data from a total of 166 women, ages 43–72, to assess whether these...

Mexican American adolescents report high rates of alcohol consumption as well as media use. Viewing alcohol images in the media is associated with increased alcohol consumption; however, to date, this association has not been examined across different ethnic groups in the United States. To bridge this gap, we examined the association between viewin...

Background: This study presents the impact of a 2-year implementation of Coordinated Approach to Child Health Early Childhood (CATCH EC), a preschool-based healthy nutrition and physical activity program, on child BMI z-scores, BMI percentiles, diet, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors among 3- to 5-year old children across Head Start cente...

Objectives Parental beliefs about child television viewing may affect the way parents regulate child television viewing. Despite this, little research has focused on the development of measures of parental beliefs about child television viewing, particularly among ethnic minority parents and parents of young children. This study’s objective was to...

Objectives: To (1) examine whether the Information, Motivation, and Behavioral Skills Model predicts maternal screen-related parenting practices and (2) evaluate the relationship of American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP)-recommended parenting practices with child television (TV) use behaviors. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 312 Spanish- an...

Objectives: E-cigarette advertisers know that 76% of youth use social media, yet little is known about the nature of e-cigarette advertising on social media most favored by youth. We utilized text-mining to characterize e-cigarette advertising and marketing messages from image-focused social media brand sites, and to construct and test an algorith...

Objectives: We used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine young adults' attitudes towards pro-tobacco messages encountered in real time and their association with intentions to use tobacco. Methods: Young adults (N = 92, ages 18-29) recorded sightings of marketing or social media related to tobacco in real time via mobile app for 28 d...

An examination of cultural protective factors that foster substance use abstinence among low-income, early adolescent, African American girls may be helpful in understanding how to promote resilience and reduce negative health outcomes. This study examined the relations between Africentric cultural values, ethnic identity, and substance use abstine...

Given the increased trend in substance use patterns among Latina adolescents in recent years, the need for research that identifies gender-specific and culturally relevant protective factors is essential in tailoring interventions. The current study examined the links between marianismo gender role attitudes, ethnic identity, and substance use abst...

Objective: This randomized controlled trial was conducted to determine comparative efficacy of a 12-month community-centered weight management program (MEND2-5 for ages 2-5 or MEND/CATCH6-12 for ages 6-12) against a primary care-centered program (Next Steps) in low-income children. Methods: Five hundred forty-nine Hispanic and black children (BM...

Introduction: Existing measures of tobacco marketing and messaging exposure are limited, relying on recall, recognition, or proxy measures. This study aimed to determine the feasibility and reliability of a mobile application for the measurement of tobacco and e-cigarette marketing and message exposure using ecological momentary assessment (EMA)....

Background Engaging young adults for the purpose of communicating health risks associated with nicotine and tobacco use can be challenging since they comprise a population heavily targeted with appealing marketing by the evolving tobacco industry. The Food and Drug Administration seeks novel ways to effectively communicate risks to warn about using...

Objective: To develop and test a comprehensive, culturally based measure of parenting practices regarding television (TV) viewing in low-income Mexican-American mothers of preschoolers. Method: Low-income Mexican-American female primary caregivers of preschoolers were recruited in urban safety-net pediatric clinics during the 2013 to 2014 academ...

Background: Most schools have not fully implemented wellness policies, and those that have rarely incorporate meaningful student participation. The aim of the Fuel Up to Play 60 (FUTP60) program is to help schools implement wellness policies by engaging students in activities to improve access to healthful, good tasting food and drinks, and increa...

Though bivariate relationships between childhood obesity, physical activity, friendships and television viewing are well documented, empirical assessment of the extent to which links between obesity and television may be mediated by these factors is scarce. This study examines the possibility that time with friends and physical activity are potenti...

Despite well-established negative health consequences of smokeless tobacco use (STU), the number and variety of alternative non-combustible tobacco products on the market have increased tremendously over the last 10 years, as has the market share of these products relative to cigarettes. While STU among non-Hispanic white youth has decreased over t...

Menu labelling has been identified as a potential strategy to help individuals make healthier choices when eating out. Although adolescents eat out often, little research involving menu labelling has been conducted with this population. The objectives of the present study were to: (i) gather qualitative information from adolescents regarding use of...

Objective. To explore maternal beliefs about television (TV) viewing and related parenting practices in low-income Mexican-origin mothers of preschoolers. Methods. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 21 low-income Mexican-origin mothers of preschoolers. Interviews were audio recorded and analyzed using a theoretically based thematic analy...

Background: There is consensus that development and evaluation of a systems-oriented approach for child obesity prevention and treatment that includes both primary and secondary prevention efforts is needed. This article describes the study design and baseline data from the Texas Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration (TX CORD) project, which ad...

Parenting practices can reduce how much television (TV) children watch. This study evaluated the longitudinal association between maternal regulation of TV content and the amount of TV watched by low-income ethnic minority children. This was a secondary data analysis of the Welfare, Children & Families: A Three City Study. Data were used from ethni...

A 2-part latent growth model can be used to analyze semicontinuous data to simultaneously study change in the probability that an individual engages in a behavior, and if engaged, change in the behavior. This article uses a Monte Carlo (MC) integration algorithm to study the interrelationships between the growth factors of 2 variables measured long...

Although many have examined the linkages between smoking behaviors across 2 generations, few have examined these linkages among 3 generations. U.S. population representative data for 3 generations are drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) in order to examine whether smoking behaviors are passed down from generation to generation and...

Though several studies have found a positive relationship between exposure to tobacco advertising and/or promotional marketing and smoking status among youth, few have examined these relationships specifically for youth of Mexican origin. The current analysis examines the relationship between perceived exposure to pro-tobacco messages and progressi...

An alarming percentage of American children and youth age 2–17 are either obese (17 %) or at risk of becoming obese (32 %) (IOM, 2005). Childhood obesity affects children at all ages, ethnicities, and gender; moreover, obesity rates have tripled over the past thirty years across all age groups and increased fivefold for 6- to 11-year-old children i...

Public adherence to cancer screening guidelines is poor. Patient confusion over multiple recommendations and modalities for cancer screening has been found to be a major barrier to screening adherence. Such problems will only increase as screening guidelines and timetables become individualized. We propose to increase compliance with cancer screeni...

This chapter explains the prevalence of obesity in American youth. The link between the use of electronic media and advertising to obesity in children is addressed. Many hold advertising responsible for childhood obesity because of its abundant promotion of energy-dense food, that is, products containing relative high proportions of fat, sugar, and...

The 5 years leading up to 2011 witnessed unprecedented transformations in the technology and media available to American consumers. These changes have led to major paradigmatic shifts in the way people think about media, how they use it, and the role they expect it to play in their lives. This article discusses the new media landscape and summarize...

Based on the assumption that commercial screen media offers no advantages to children under 2, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no exposure for them. However, few experimental tests of this assumption have been conducted. Utilizing a randomized controlled design, we examined vocabulary development in children ages 8 to 15 months....

Few empirical studies of word learning from video during toddlerhood have been conducted. Children aged 18 to 33 months viewed a 10-minute commercially available video about different shapes daily for 15 days. The experimental group video included the novel word and shape crescent; the control group video did not. The experimental group was signifi...

In this new and rapidly changing era of digital technology, there is increasing consensus among media scholars that there is an urgent need to develop measurement approaches which more adequately capture media use The overarching goal of this paper is facilitate the development of measurement approaches appropriate for capturing children's media us...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the predictors of children's media use in the USA, comparing cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Data come from Waves I and 2 of the Child Development Supplement (CDS-I; CDS-II), a nationally representative sample of American children aged 0-12 in 1997 and 5-18 in 2002. Twenty-four hour time use diarie...

Children's Media Landscape in the MillenniumLinking Media Use and Childhood ObesityMechanisms Linking Electronic Media and ObesityLimitations of Existing ResearchSummary and Conclusions References

Marie Evans Schmidt and Elizabeth Vandewater review research on links between various types of electronic media and the cognitive skills of school-aged children and adolescents. One central finding of studies to date, they say, is that the content delivered by electronic media is far more influential than the media themselves. Most studies, they po...

Developed by national and international child health and nutrition experts, Eating Behaviors of the Young Child represents the most recent advances in knowledge of the factors that influence early eating patterns. Designed for pediatricians and other child health care professionals who treat children, this handy resource provides educational tools...

To examine the notion that playing video games is negatively related to the time adolescents spend in more developmentally appropriate activities. Nonexperimental study. Survey data collected during the 2002-2003 school year. A nationally representative sample of 1491 children aged 10 to 19 years. Main Outcome Measure Twenty-four-hour time-use diar...

The objectives of this study were to describe media access and use among US children aged 0 to 6, to assess how many young children fall within the American Academy of Pediatrics media-use guidelines, to identify demographic and family factors predicting American Academy of Pediatrics media-use guideline adherence, and to assess the relation of gui...

We take a person centered approach to explore adolescent adjustment profiles using 1027 mother-adolescents dyads from the National Survey of Families and Households. Cluster analyses revealed four profiles of adolescents who were: (a) unusually high in self-esteem (low externalizing, low internalizing, low trouble with authorities, high self-esteem...

Theories of adult development suggest that personality development and social role involvements are sources of adult well-being for both men and women. However, previous research on this topic has focused mainly on (a) women, and (b) early stages of adulthood. We tested an alternative model for predicting late-midlife adults’ well-being, with role...

To examine whether and to what extent the relationship between television viewing and children's weight status differs according to parental weight status. Population-level survey including in-home and telephone interview components. United States. Representative sample of children aged 6 to 19 years in 2002 (n = 1483). Hours of television viewing....

This study assessed the claim that children's television use interferes with time spent in more developmentally appropriate activities. Data came from the first wave of the Child Development Supplement, a nationally representative sample of children aged 0 to 12 in 1997 (N = 1712). Twenty-four-hour time-use diaries from 1 randomly chosen weekday an...

OBJECTIVES. This study assessed the claim that children's television use interferes with time spent in more developmentally appropriate activities. METHODS. Data came from the first wave of the Child Development Supplement, a nationally representative sample of children aged 0 to 12 in 1997 (N = 1712). Twenty-four-hour time-use diaries from 1 rando...

Using a national sample of children aged 6 to 12 (N = 1,075), this study examined the relative merits of 3 theoretical perspectives on the relation between family conflict and children's use of electronic media (television and electronic games with violent content): (a) the family context hypothesis, whereby family conflict is positively related to...

This study examines the ways in which different family processes and personal experiences of social contexts are related to the adjustment of adolescents in a subsample of 755 mother-child dyads drawn from the National Survey of Families and Households. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine a model in which joint family contexts (soc...

In American homes, the television is on approximately 6 hours a day on average. Yet little is known about the impact of growing up in the near constant presence of television. This study examines the prevalence and developmental impact of “heavy-television” households on very young children aged 0 to 6 drawn from a nationally representative sample...

This study addresses the relations between parental rules regarding television use (for time and program, respectively) and television use among very young children (ages 0 to 6). Higher education level was related to rules of both types, whereas higher household income was related to having program rules. Parents with time rules reported their chi...

This study examined the impact of educational media use on young children's (ages 2–5) reading and pre-reading skills in the context of various family stressors (lack of economic resources, family conflict, and maternal depression). We examined the utility of models positing that family stressors directly predict the quality of the home learning en...

This study examined the links between childhood obesity, activity participation and television and video game use in a nationally representative sample of children (N = 2831) ages 1-12 using age-normed body mass index (BMI) ratings. Results indicated that while television use was not related to children's weight status, video game use was. Children...

Predictors of media use of children from 1 to 12 years old were examined for 3 ethnic groups (European American, African American, and Hispanic American). Data from the Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics representing 1,819 children were used. Models consisting of child characteristics, demographics, family characteri...

Despite the plethora of new electronic media aimed at very young children, little is known about which media are available to children and whether or how children engage with them. This study reports on a nationally representative telephone survey of more than 1,000 parents of children ages 6 months through 6 years, conducted in Spring 2003. The mo...

Using latent variable structural equation modeling, a family economic stress model that links economic well-being to child well-being in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 419 elementary school-age children was evaluated. The sample was 57% African American and 28% Hispanic, and most families were headed by single mothers. The results prov...

Within a weighted, nationally representative sample of 2902 children, differences in electronic media use by age and sex were examined. The data collected were part of the University of Michigan's Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), and included two 24-h time-use diaries, one from a weekday and one from...

Regrets about early adult life choices, expressed in midlife, are examined as a source of motivation for life changes in later midlife in 2 samples of women. Replicated findings with longitudinal data indicate that regret motivates goal setting but is not associated with actually making desired life changes. In both samples, women who had regrets a...

Regrets about early life choices, expressed in midlife are examined as a source or motivation for life changes in later midlife in 2 samples of women. Replicated with longitudinal data indicate that regret motivates goal setting but is not associated with actually making desored life changes. In both samlpes, women who had regrets about early adult...

This study examined the midlife personality implications of different long-term patterns of commitment to work1 and family in a sample of educated women. Women with different work commitment patterns differed on both observer and self-report of instrumentality, and on observer report of interpersonal orientation and valuation of social norms. Women...

Relative effects of membership in one of two family structures (married-never divorced vs. divorced-not remarried) and interparental conflict (high vs. low) on children's well-being (internalizing, externalizing behavior and trouble with peers) are examined for a sample of 10- to 17-year-old children and their parents from the National Survey of Fa...

Theories of adult development suggest that both personality and social roles are sources of adult well-being, but most research has examined only social roles. An integrated model was used, including personality, number of roles, and role quality, to predict well-being in 2 longitudinal studies of college-educated women. Results for both samples in...

Theories of adult development suggest that both personality and social roles are sources of adult well-being, but most research has examined only social roles. An integrated model was used, including personality, number of roles, and role quality, to predict well-being in 2 longitudinal studies of college-educated women. Results for both samples in...

Midlife is a time of heightened reevaluation and reorientation during which individuals are faced with potentially stressful changes and turning points. Ego-resiliency (ER) is proposed to be a powerful personality resource that enables individuals to adaptively negotiate the challenges of this period. Through examination of data from 2 longitudinal...

Counterfactual thinking entails the process of imagining alternatives to reality—what might have been. The present study examines the frequency, content, and emotional and cognitive concomitants of counterfactual thinking about past missed opportunities in midlife women. At age 43, nearly two-thirds of the sample of educated adult women reported ha...

This study examined the personality and well-being implications of different patterns of commitments to work, family, and leisure in a longitudinal study of women who graduated from college in 1964. Analyses revealed that women's work and family commitments were not mutually exclusive, or even systematically related: women in this sample combined d...

This paper asks how La Leche League, an organization begun in the 1950s to promote breast-feeding and the value of maternal nurturance, continues to attract women in the 1990s. The League represents an interesting case of how conservative groups change in response to changing family norms and practices, most notably the increased employment of moth...

This paper examines changing masculine ideals from the point of view of women homemakers through a case study of La Leche League, a maternalist organization dedicated to breastfeeding and mother primacy. We suggest two reasons for studying the League: first, an emerging literature suggests that changing norms are seeping into many such seemingly co...

The present study explored the relative importance of gender role identity, gender role attitudes, and biological gender in determining the intensity of anger, disgust, hurt, envy, fear, pity, and liking reported toward same- and opposite-sex children. Sixty male and 60 female 6–12-year-old children reported on the intensity of emotions that a hypo...

focuses on how [the women of the Radcliffe College class of 1964] negotiated their work and family commitments and on the consequences of their early commitments / explore the women's college experiences and their decisions about family and work upon graduation / explore the consequences of these decisions for a wide range of midlife outcomes, incl...