Sandra L Calvert

• PhD
• Managing Director at Georgetown University

With the rise of smart devices in the 21st century, children are increasingly engaged in socially contingent interactions with conversational agents such as Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. Using an online parent survey, young children's verbal interactions (parasocial interactions) and emotional relationships (parasocial relationships) with conv...

Children’s math learning (N = 217; Mage = 4.87 years; 63% European American, 96% college‐educated families) from an intelligent character game was examined via social meaningfulness (parasocial relationships [PSRs]) and social contingency (parasocial interactions, e.g., math talk). In three studies (data collected in the DC area: 12/2015–10/2017),...

We document the need to examine digital game play and app use as a context for cognitive development, particularly during middle childhood. We highlight this developmental period as 6‐ through 12‐year olds comprise a large swath of the preadult population that plays and uses these media forms. Surprisingly, this age range remains understudied with...

Lack of physical activity is often associated with electronic media use. However, augmented reality exergames require player movement, making them a potential health application (app). In the exergame Pokémon GO, characters were embedded into the external environment through a live camera feed and viewed through a player’s smartphone screen. Online...

Children’s parasocial relationships (PSRs) with media characters end through a process called PSR breakups. An online parent report measure was used to describe preschool and school-aged children’s breakups with media characters, as well as the attributes of past and current favorite characters. According to parents (N = 138), 51% of children exper...

BACKGROUND Youth in the United States have low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, a risk factor for childhood obesity. Lower levels of physical fitness for black and Hispanic youth contribute to health disparities. In this feasibility study, we examined active video games (AVGs) as a tool to improve fitness and attitudes toward physical activity...

Parent report measures indicate that young children’s parasocial relationships (PSRs) are multidimensional constructs consisting of dimensions such as social realism, attachment and character personification, and human-like needs. However, little is known about how parent perceptions of these dimensions evolve as children mature and form new PSRs....

Objective: Childhood obesity is a health issue in the United States, associated with marketing practices in which media characters are often used to sell unhealthy products. This study examined exposure to a socially contingent touch-screen gaming app, which replied immediately, reliably, and accurately to children's actions. Children's recall of...

Objective: Media characters are used to market snacks that are typically of poor nutritional value, which has been linked to childhood obesity. This study examines whether children's snack selections and consumption patterns are influenced by an app depicting a popular children's media character, as well as the role that children's awareness of th...

Obesity is one of the best-documented outcomes of screen media exposure. Many observational studies find relationships between screen media exposure and increased risks of obesity. Randomized controlled trials of reducing screen time in community settings have reduced weight gain in children, demonstrating a cause and effect relationship. Current e...

Introduction: Children’s parasocial relationships (PSRs) with media characters can end, known as PSR breakups (Bond & Calvert, 2014). We examined changes over time in: (1) frequency of PSR breakups; (2) reasons for breakups; and; (3) attributes of past and current favorite characters. Method: 138 re-contacted parents reported on children’s past a...

Parent measures indicate that children’s parasocial relationships (PSRs) are multidimensional constructs. In this follow-up study, parent reports of children’s PSRs yielded three dimensions: attachment and character personification, social realism, and humanlike needs. This finding replicates previous research and indicates that dimensions remain s...

Adults and children form one-sided, emotionally tinged relationships with media characters known as parasocial relationships. Studies have measured adult conceptions of their own parasocial relationships and parent perceptions of their children’s parasocial relationships, but little is known about how to quantify young children’s perceptions of the...

From television to computers to new mobile touchscreen devices, children’s social interactions and relationships are increasingly embedded in media. This chapter will summarize how children learn from screens, emphasizing the importance of social factors in their learning. We argue here that the one-sided, emotionally tinged relationships that chil...

Children experience emotionally tinged parasocial relationships with their favorite media characters across a constantly changing media landscape. On the frontier of this landscape are intelligent agents: digital companions that can socially interact with and educate children. We discuss how research on parasocial relationships with media character...

This study examines parent perceptions of their young children’s one-sided, emotionally tinged relationships with media characters, also known as parasocial relationships (PSR). Prior research has collected data on young children’s PSR by surveying parents, while other studies have relied directly on child interview. The current study is the first...

School shootings tear the fabric of society. In the wake of a school shooting, parents, pediatricians, policymakers, politicians, and the public search for "the" cause of the shooting. But there is no single cause. The causes of school shootings are extremely complex. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School rampage shooting in Newtown, Connecticut,...

In three experiments, 32-month-old children (n = 40 for Experiment 1, n = 36 for Experiment 2) and 24-month-old children (n = 33 for Experiment 3) were asked to judge the credibility of information presented on a touchscreen device. The information was delivered by a familiar and an unfamiliar media character. Two app conditions varied on which cha...

Past research has suggested exergame play improves adolescents' executive function (EF) skills. EF change in 70 African American and Hispanic/Latino 10- to 16-year-olds participating in an inner-city summer camp was assessed following five 30-minute exergame play sessions. Children's EF scores improved from pre- to posttest, and factors related to...

A survey of parents of children 2 to 8 years old was conducted to investigate parasocial relationships (PSR) and experiences with parasocial breakup among young children. Results indicated that boys were significantly more likely to have a female favorite character at a younger age than at their current age, but girls were no more likely to have a...

The purpose of this study was to examine how parents and children interact during traditional and computer storybook reading in their home. Thirty-nine, 4-year old children read both a traditional and a computer storybook with a parent. Parent responsiveness and child verbalizations were coded during each type of book reading experience (traditiona...

Children's parasocial relationships have been understudied, even though recent research suggests that children learn better from socially meaningful than from socially irrelevant media characters. This study articulates a model of parasocial relationship development among children and, in the process, establishes new measures of children's parasoci...

Children's media is rooted in relationships with onscreen characters. In this study, 18-month-old toddlers were initially exposed to one of two unfamiliar interactive media characters for 3 months. Conditions varied whether the character was personalized to them or not. At age 21 months, toddlers were tested on a seriation task that was presented o...

Children as a market have come of age. Youth ages 2 to 17 in the United States spend approximately $250 billion per year, and 2- to 14-year-old US youth influence an additional $500 billion per year in family spending (see Calvert, 2008). In an increasingly digital world culture, youth now spend a considerable amount of time online (Rideout, Foehr...

Very young children have difficulty transferring what they view onscreen to their offscreen worlds. This study examined whether familiarizing toddlers with a character would improve toddlers' performance on a subsequent seriation task. Toddlers were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) a familiarized character condition where toddlers...

Children and adolescents in the United States and in many countries are projected to have shorter life spans than their parents, partly because of the obesity crisis engulfi ng the developed world. Exposure to electronic media is often implicated in this crisis because media use, including electronic game play, may promote sedentary behavior and in...

Children and adolescents in the United States and in many countries are projected to have shorter life spans than their parents, partly because of the obesity crisis engulfing the developed world. Exposure to electronic media is often implicated in this crisis because media use, including electronic game play, may promote sedentary behavior and inc...

Unlabelled: Overweight and obese youth, who face increased risk of medical complications including heart disease and type II diabetes, can benefit from sustainable physical activity interventions that result in weight loss. Objective: This study examined whether a 20-week exergame (i.e., videogame that requires gross motor activity) intervention...

Childhood obesity has become a global epidemic. Previous research has shown that exposure to media and advertising plays a role in childhood obesity and that most of the food marketing directed at children is for unhealthy products. This study examines the role that media characters, a prominent and potentially powerful tool in marketing, play in c...

Our 20-week "Wii Club" intervention for overweight and obese adolescents demonstrated weight loss, increased self-efficacy, and improved peer support from cooperative exergame play. Videogames that require motor activity in a social context may be a fun, effective tool to promote healthy weight and physical activity among youth.

Obesogenic built environments may contribute to excessive eating and obesity. Twenty-three 12- to 17-year-old low-income African American adolescents created digital diaries by photographing their lunchtime food environment in a summer academic program. Digitally depicted foods were classified as appearing on the platescape (student's or others' pl...

Exergames (i.e., video games that require gross motor activity) may provide intrinsically motivating experiences that engage youth in sustained physical activity. Thirty-one low-income 15- to 19-year-old overweight and obese African American adolescents were randomly assigned to a competitive exergame (n = 17) or a cooperative exergame (n = 14) con...

With the rise of prevalence of tangible interfaces of all kinds for children, this panel will present diverse perspectives on the benefits and challenges of these interfaces. These will include: exergames, mobile applications, and using digitally enhanced feedback for non-digital environments.

We describe the association between postpartum depression and the quantity and content of infant media use. Households with depressed mothers viewed twice as much television as households with non-depressed mothers did, and depressed mothers appeared to derive comparatively greater pleasure from television viewing. Maternal depression was associate...

Exergames are videogames that require gross motor activity, thereby combining gaming with physical activity. This study examined the role of competitive versus cooperative exergame play on short-term changes in executive function skills, following a 10-week exergame training intervention. Fifty-four low-income overweight and obese African American...

Children and adolescents in developed countries are heavily immersed in digital media, creating an inexpensive, far-reaching marketing opportunity for the food industry and the gaming industry. However, exposure to nonnutritious food and beverage advertisements combined with the use of stationary media create a conflict between entertainment and pu...

Technology has dramatically changed the frequency with which US youth access the Internet as well as what they are doing while they are online. In this entry, the authors first examine US children's and adolescents' Internet access and use by age, ethnicity, and device (e.g., mobile phone, computer). Next, they discuss how US youths' earlier online...

Exergames are popular video games that combine physical activity with digital gaming. To measure effects of exergame play on physical outcomes and health behaviors, most studies use external measures including accelerometry, indirect calorimetry, heart rate monitors, and written surveys. These measures may reduce external validity by burdening part...

Introduction: Exergames, which are video games that require gross motor activity, may provide sustainable discretionary physical activity to promote weight loss. Exergames may be especially useful in disadvantaged communities that lack facilities and equipment for traditional sports activities. Methods: Fifty-four 15- to 19-year-old overweight and...

Exergames, which are video games that require gross motor activity, are popular activities that produce energy expenditure. Seventy-four low-income African American 12- to 18-year-old adolescents were randomly assigned to a 30-minute condition: 1) solitary Wii tennis exergame play against virtual peers; 2) social Wii tennis exergame play against a...

Digital games combining exercise with game play, known as exergames, can improve youths' health status and provide social and academic benefits. Exergame play increases caloric expenditure, heart rate, and coordination. Psychosocial and cognitive impacts of exergame play may include increased self-esteem, social interaction, motivation, attention,...

Toddlers' performance on a seriation sequencing task was measured after exposure to a video as a function of the social meaningfulness of the character. Forty eight 21-month-old toddlers were randomly assigned to a socially meaningful character video demonstration, a less socially meaningful character video demonstration, or a no exposure control g...

This study examined the effects of program pacing, defined as the rate of scene and character change per minute, on infants’ visual attention to video presentations. Seventy-two infants (twenty-four 6-month-olds, twenty-four 9-month-olds, twenty-four 12-month-olds) were exposed to one of two sets of high- and low-paced commercial infant DVDs. Each...

Digital production is a means through which African American adolescents communicate and express their experiences with peers. This study examined the content and the form of the digital productions of 24 urban, low-income African American adolescents who attended a summer academic program. The content of student digital productions focused on acad...

The number of videos produced specifically for infants and toddlers has grown exponentially in the last decade. Many of these products make educational claims regarding young children's language development. This study explores infant media producer claims regarding language development, and the extent to which these claims reflect different distri...

Infant DVDs typically have titles and even company names that imply some educational benefit. It is not known whether these educational claims are reflected in actual content. The present study examined this question. Of 686 claims (across 58 programs) listed on packaging, websites and promotional materials, implicit claims were most frequent (37%)...

This study examined the social–emotional content and the quality of social interactions depicted in a sample of 58 DVDs marketed towards infants and toddlers. Infant-directed videos rarely used social interactions between caregiver and child or between peers to present content. Even when videos explicitly targeted social– emotional content, correla...

Seventy-two children, ages 30 and 36 months, participated in a hide-and-seek object retrieval game in one of three conditions: 1) playing an interactive computer game; 2) observing a video; or 3) observing an adult find the hidden characters through a one-way mirror. After exposure, children searched for the three characters in a playroom designed...

This study described the relations among the amount of child-directed versus adult-directed television exposure at ages 1 and 4 with cognitive outcomes at age 4. Sixty parents completed 24-hour television diaries when their children were 1 and 4 years of age. At age 4, their children also completed a series of cognitive measures and parents complet...

This study described the relations among the amount of child-directed versus adult-directed television exposure at ages 1 and 4 with cognitive outcomes at age 4. Sixty parents completed 24-hour television diaries when their children were 1 and 4 years of age. At age 4, their children also completed a series of cognitive measures and parents complet...

This study described the relations among the amount of child-directed versus adult-directed television exposure at ages I and 4 with cognitive outcomes at age 4. Sixty parents completed 24-hour television diaries when their children were 1 and 4 years of age. At age 4, their children also completed a series of cognitive measures and parents complet...

To describe how DVDs designed for very young children are constructed, focusing on the formal production features used to present the program content. Descriptive study of the concentrations of perceptually salient, nonsalient, and reflective formal features. Fifty-nine DVDs designed for children younger than 3 years. Main Exposure The presence and...

The purpose of this study was to examine how 4-year-old children learn to use computers, with specific interest in what cognitive factors and parental scaffolding practices are associated with control of the computer via the computer mouse interface. Fifty-three 4-year-old children were videotaped while viewing two computer storybooks. Results indi...

To examine how advergames, which are online computer games developed to market a product, affect consumption of healthier and less healthy snacks by low-income African American children. Cross-sectional, between-subjects examination of an advergame in which children were rewarded for having their computer character consume healthier or less healthy...

Millions of contemporary young adults use social networking sites. However, little is known about how much, why, and how they use these sites. In this study, 92 undergraduates completed a diary-like measure each day for a week, reporting daily time use and responding to an activities checklist to assess their use of the popular social networking si...

Same and opposite-sex pairs of preadolescents interacted twice in a MUD, a virtual domain where they created characters known as avatars and socially interacted with one another. Boys interacted primarily through rapid scene shifts and playful exchanges; girls interacted with one another through written dialogue. Opposite-sex pairs lagged behind sa...

Low-income African American youth who played a Wii tennis exergame (a videogame requiring gross motor activity) burned more calories than those in a sedentary computer condition. Social competitive play was particularly effective for caloric burn, even when compared to actual tennis court play.

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In 2006 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded that food marketing was a contributor to childhood obesity in the United States. One recommendation of the IOM committee was for research on newer marketing venues, such as Internet Web sites. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to answer the IOM's call by examining food marketing on popul...

Marketing and advertising support the U.S. economy by promoting the sale of goods and services to consumers, both adults and children. Sandra Calvert addresses product marketing to children and shows that although marketers have targeted children for decades, two recent trends have increased their interest in child consumers. First, both the discre...

Early Media Use: Access, Experiences, and Parental AttitudesHow Do Children Learn from Media Presentations?The Educational Lessons of MediaEngagement and Learning: Interactive StoriesMedia, Gender, and EthnicitySocial Policy and Media ExposureConclusion

When Americans think of literacy, they generally think of children's ability to read and write words. This kind of literacy is indeed an important way to become a well-versed citizen in the information age (Neuman, Copple, & Bredekamp, 2000). However, often neglected and even diminished in importance are visual/ iconic and musical/echoic modes of t...

Young Hispanic and Caucasian children viewed an animated educational television program in conditions that varied the level of interaction required. Girls and Caucasian children identified with the Hispanic female character more than boys and Hispanic children did. Children who actively responded to character prompts were more likely to understand...

Male and female high school and college students viewed a DVD about a love story. Youth who more readily empathized with media characters were more likely to perceive same-sex characters as role models and were better able to understand the story content. The findings suggest that fantasy empathy, in which viewers become deeply involved in narrativ...

A Review of Gender Identities and Education: The Impact of Starting School, by Barbara Lloyd and Gerald Duveen.

This study examines issues of online identity and language use among male and female teenagers who created and maintained weblogs, personal journals made publicly accessible on the World Wide Web. Online identity and language use were examined in terms of the disclosure of personal information, sexual identity, emotive features, and semantic themes...

Parents were interviewed about the media habits of their 6-month to 6-year-old children. For children who had used computers, linear increases in computer usage occurred across this age range with a shift from using a computer on a parent's lap at about age 2½ to autonomous computer and mouse use at about age 3½. There were almost no gender differe...

This article examines a study in which young children were exposed to a computer story that varied the amount of control that children had over the visual and verbal content. Children who controlled the computer demonstrated more attention and involvement than those who watched an adult control the experience. Boys who had an adult control the prog...

Parents were interviewed about the media habits of their 6-month to 6-year-old children. For children who had used computers, linear increases in computer usage occurred across this age range with a shift from using a computer on a parent’s lapat aboutage 21/2 to autonomous computer and mouse use at about age 31/2. There were almost no gender diffe...

Viewing media aggression can be a risk factor for the long-term well being of viewers, and heroes have been targeted as a major risk factor in this relationship because they commit justified acts of aggression. However, little is known about the specific aspects of heroic conduct that viewers find worthy of emulation. We examined US and Taiwanese a...

This study engages theories of film and myth in culture through an experimental study of high school and college students’ perceptions of a forty-three-minute edited episode of a heroic action film. Participants were tested for their understanding of program themes as well as for their selection of role models. The authors find significant differen...

Preadolescent children who did not know one another interacted in a multiuser domain (MUD), an online site designed to facilitate identity exploration and peer interaction. Each child participated in two separate sessions, one with a same-sex and one with an opposite-sex peer. Children created characters that reflected real-life properties of thems...

This article examines the key concepts of active learning, metacognition, and transfer of knowledge, as put forth by the National Research Council's approach to the new science of learning, in relation to ways that E-Learning applications might improve learning both inside and outside the classroom. Several initiatives are highlighted to illustrate...

The 1990 Children's Television Act (CTA) requires broadcasters to provide educational and informational television programs for children. A multimethod, multidisciplinary approach, utilizing both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, was used to investigate the degree to which the CTA has had an effect on children's viewing experiences and lear...

Children in the 2nd through 6th grade wrote reports about their favorite educa-tional and informational television programs, and the reports were examined for the presence of gender stereotypes. Children's written reports contained more male than female characters, more male than female pronouns, and more masculine than feminine behaviors. Effects...

The 1990 Children's Television Act (CTA) requires broadcasters to provide educational and informational television programs for children. A multimethod, multidisciplinary approach, utilizing both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, was used to investigate the degree to which the CTA has had an effect on children's viewing experiences and lear...

Production features that attract children's interest and that foster their learning are examined. Action, involving movement, is put forth as a feature that is developmentally appropriate for young children, for boys, and for developmentally delayed children, in part because these groups may well be visual processors. Music is a motivating feature...

In two experiments, children's and young adults' memory of content presented via educational televised songs from School House Rock was examined. Single exposures favored verbal over sung presentations for recognition of important verbal content. After repeated exposure to a second vignette, children and adults remembered more educational material...

The Children's Television Act of 1990 requires broadcasters to provide programming that furthers the development of children. The purpose of this study was to examine second through sixth grade children's learning from educational programs broadcast by affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX compared to PBS and Nickelodeon. Using the Internet as a dat...

One hundred and thirty-nine young adults viewed one of three episodes of a television program about a female action hero titled Xena: Warrior Princess. Programs varied in portrayals of Xena's shadow, the dark but also life-preserving facet of the personality. Participants of both genders who had higher levels of traditionally masculine personality...

This study examined the impact of computers on the vocabulary acquisition of young children with autism. Children's attention, motivation, and learning of words was compared in a behavioral program and an educational software program. The educational software program was designed to parallel the behavioral program, but it added perceptually salient...

onger constrained by a physical body, when we are free to Aembody@ ourselves in diverse characters and to develop multiple facets of our identities? How will those symbolic identities impact our identity construction in real life? Currently, there is limited empirical literature in the virtual reality area to address these questions. Therefore, I w...

In two experiments, young children's recitation and comprehension of content presented in songs was examined. In the first experiment, repeated exposure to a televised song improved young children's verbatim word-for-word memory of incomprehensible French, but not comprehensible English, lyrics. Memory for verbal factual material never improved aft...

In two experiments, young children's recitation and comprehension of content presented in songs was examined. In the first experiment, repeated exposure to a televised song improved young children's verbatim word-for-word memory of incomprehensible French, but not comprehensible English, lyrics. Memory for verbal factual material never improved aft...