Journal Issue: Children and Electronic Media Volume 18 Number 1
Spring 2008 Liliana Escobar-Chaves and Craig Anderson
investigate two important trends among American youth and
examine the extent to which the two trends might be related.
First, the authors note that U.S. youth are spending increasing
amounts of time using electronic media, with the average
American youngster now spending one-third of each day with some
form of electronic media. Second, the authors demonstrate that
American adolescents are engaging in a number of unhealthful
behaviors that impose huge societal costs. Escobar-Chaves and
Anderson detail the extent of five critical types of adolescent
health risk behaviors identified by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention—obesity, smoking, drinking, sexual risk
taking, and violence. Obesity, the authors note, has become an
epidemic among America's young people. Cigarette smoking among
adolescents is one of the ten leading health indicators of
greatest government concern. Alcohol abuse a