Donald F. Roberts’s research while affiliated with Stanford University and other places

This study explored 19 themes embedded in the lyrics of 1,040 U.S. top-40 songs from 1960 through 2010, using R strucchange software to identify trends and breaks in trends. Findings reveal both continuity and change. As in 1960, the predominant topic of pop music remains romantic and sexual relationships. However, whereas the proportion of lyrics referring to relationships in romantic terms remained stable, the proportion including reference to sex-related aspects of relationships increased sharply. References to lifestyle issues such as dancing, alcohol and drugs, and status/wealth increased substantially, particularly in the 2000s. Other themes were far less frequent: Social/political issues, religion/God, race/ethnicity, personal identity, family, friends showed a modest occurrence in top-40 music throughout the studied period and showed no dramatic changes. Violence and death occurred in a small number of songs, and both increased, particularly since the 1990s. References to hate/hostility, suicide, and occult matters were very rare. Results are examined in the context of cultural changes in the social position of adolescents, and more specifically in light of the increased popularity of rap/hip-hop music, which may explain the increases in references to sex, partying, dancing, drug use, and wealth.

Examining the full array of media available to children and adolescents, this book describes not only the amount of time they spend with each medium, but the kinds of content they choose, and the physical, social, and psychological context of much of their exposure. This national sample study provides a comprehensive picture of young people's media behavior.

Stripping away the hype, this book describes how, when, and why media violence can influence children of different ages, giving parents and teachers the power to maximize the media's benefits and minimize its harm. There are many opinions about media violence and children, but not all are supported by science. In this book, the top experts gather the latest results from 50 years of scientific study as the basis for a comprehensive, in-depth examination of the complex issues surrounding the effects of media violence of different types. Each chapter focuses on a particular issue of concern, including "hot" topics such as brain development, cyber-bullying, video games, and verbal aggression. Articles take into account factors such as economics, differences based on the ages of children, and differences between types of media violence. This book provides the information parents and those who work with families need to make the best choices. It includes chapters specifically relevant to the types of bullying schools have the most trouble identifying and controlling. Most importantly, the writing is both intelligent and accessible so that parents, educators, pediatricians, and policymakers can understand and apply the findings presented.

This paper presents the results of a content analysis of alcohol and drug portrayals in the top 100 Billboard songs from each of the years 1968, 1978, 1988, 1998, and 2008, thus allowing both a characterization of substance portrayals in music generally and an analysis of changes over time. Of the final sample of 496 songs, 10.3% contained a reference to alcohol and 5.7% contained a reference to drugs. A substantial increase was found over the decades, and in particular over the last two: in 1988, 12% of songs referred to either or both classes of substance, compared to 30% in 2008. Marijuana was by far the most frequently mentioned drug. Both alcohol and drugs were much more likely to be portrayed positively than negatively, especially in recent decades. The results are discussed in terms of relevant theories of media processing and impact.

This study is one of the largest and most comprehensive publicly available sources of information on the amount and nature of media use among American youth: (1) It includes a large national sample of more than 2,000 young people from across the country; (2) It covers children from ages 8 to 18, to track changes from childhood through the transitional "tween" period, and on into the teenage years; (3) It explores a comprehensive array of media, including TV, computers, video games, music, print, cell phones, and movies; (4) It is one of the only studies to measure and account for media multitasking--the time young people spend using more than one medium concurrently; and (5) It gathers highly detailed information about young people's media behavior, including responses to an extensive written questionnaire completed by the entire sample, plus results from a subsample of approximately 700 respondents who also maintained week-long diaries recording their media use in half-hour increments. Finally, because this is the third wave of the Kaiser Family Foundation's studies of children's media use, it not only provides a detailed look at current media use patterns among young people, but also documents changes in children's media habits since the first two waves of the study, in 1999 and 2004. It is hoped that the data provided here will offer a reliable foundation for policymakers trying to craft national media policies, parents trying to do their best to stay on top of their children's media habits, and educators, advocates and public health groups that are concerned with the impact of media on youth, and want to leverage the educational and informational potential of media in young people's lives. Appended are: (1) Tables; (2) Changes in Question Wording and Structure Over Time; (3) Toplines; and (4) Sample of Media Use Diary.

The paper examines the issues underlying the debate over television commercials directed at children from the perspectives of both the proponents and opponents of regulation, drawing a distinction between what research can tell us about the consequences of children's exposure to commercials and value judgments about those consequences inherent in making policy decisions. Following a brief review of empirical studies concerned with the general impact of commercials on children, the paper turns to a closer examination of research concerned with developmental changes in children's processing of and responses to commercials. It argues that the persuasive nature of the commercial renders it a special case which children do not fully understand until the age of about seven years. Strategies that might increase children's understanding of the nature of commercials, hence might moderate the impact of commercials, and that can be employed in the school, in the home, or via television itself, are suggested.

American youth are awash in media. They have television sets in their bedrooms, personal computers in their family rooms, and digital music players and cell phones in their backpacks. They spend more time with media than any single activity other than sleeping, with the average American eight- to eighteen-year-old reporting more than six hours of daily media use. The growing phenomenon of "media multitasking"--using several media concurrently--multiplies that figure to eight and a half hours of media exposure daily. Donald Roberts and Ulla Foehr examine how both media use and media exposure vary with demographic factors such as age, race and ethnicity, and household socioeconomic status, and with psychosocial variables such as academic performance and personal adjustment. They note that media exposure begins early, increases until children begin school, drops off briefly, then climbs again to peak at almost eight hours daily among eleven- and twelve-year-olds. Television and video exposure is particularly high among African American youth. Media exposure is negatively related to indicators of socioeconomic status, but that relationship may be diminishing. Media exposure is positively related to risk-taking behaviors and is negatively related to personal adjustment and school performance. Roberts and Foehr also review evidence pointing to the existence of a digital divide--variations in access to personal computers and allied technologies by socioeconomic status and by race and ethnicity. The authors also examine how the recent emergence of digital media such as personal computers, video game consoles, and portable music players, as well as the media multitasking phenomenon they facilitate, has increased young people's exposure to media messages while leaving media use time largely unchanged. Newer media, they point out, are not displacing older media but are being used in concert with them. The authors note which young people are more or less likely to use several media concurrently and which media are more or less likely to be paired with various other media. They argue that one implication of such media multitasking is the need to reconceptualize "media exposure."

Three telephone surveys conducted during different phases of the Vietnam War (N=401, 199, and 299, respectively) were conducted to determine how changes in events and in sources’ actions relevant to those events affect the perceived credibility of various information sources. Data linking four sources (students, the Stanford University News Service, CBS News, and the White House) to three issues (air pollution, unemployment, the war) indicate that ascribed credibility: (a) increased with the purported objectivity of the source, (b) decreased as the issue became more controversial, and (c) varied overtime as a function of the actions of the various sources and changes in events related to the issues. Results are discussed in terms of how changes in the environment located by major news events are related to changes in the ascribed credibility of various information sources.