Your preschooler may be picking up bad behaviors from Batman. 
 
 By Tom Jacobs 
 
 (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures) 
 
 Superheroes dominate American pop culture at the moment, which would seem to be a good thing. Superman, Wonder Woman, and most of their peers use their abilities to fight injustice and help those in need. One would think their young fans would learn to emulate their admirable behaviors. 
 
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 Unfortunately, one would be wrong. 
 
 That’s the conclusion of a just-published study in which 240 preschoolers were evaluated at two points in time, spaced one year apart. It found their engagement with superheroes at the first point was not related to any sort of “pro-social or defending behavior” at the second. 
 
 But the kids did imitate their heroes in a different, less desirable way. The researchers found a link between identification with such characters and increased aggression over time. 
 
 “Children in early childhood may be particularly at risk for the negative effects of media violence exposure when the superhero medium is emphasized,” concludes a research team led by psychologist Sarah Coyne of Brigham Young University. “It appears to be difficult for young children to disentangle aggression and pro-social behavior when they are combined, as is common in the superhero genre.” 
 
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 The study, published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, featured kindergartners and preschoolers recruited at four sites in the Western United States. Both at the initial session and again one year later parents reported their child’s favorite superhero, how strongly they identify with him or her, and how often they view movies or television shows featuring such characters. 
 
 They also filled out questionnaires regarding their child’s behavior, including whether they are kind and helpful to their friends; whether they defend peers who are being bullied; and whether they engage in three types of aggression: physical (kicking or hitting others), relational (ignoring peers or otherwise hurting their feelings), or verbal (calling them names). 
 
 In addition, the children were interviewed separately during each session. They were asked to identify their favorite superhero, and to explain why they liked him or her best. 
 
 The key finding: “Preschoolers who were highly engaged with superheroes were more likely to be physically and relationally aggressive one year later, even after controlling for initial levels of physical and relational aggression, and their exposure to other aggressive media,” the researchers report. 
 
 This result is consistent with previous research “which has repeatedly shown that exposure to aggressive and violent media can result in increased aggressive behavior,” they write. 
 
 But why would exposure to superheroes increase aggression above and beyond exposure to other types of problematic media? Coyne and her colleagues suspect at least part of the answer is the fact many parents “endorse and support” their kids’ love of the violent characters. 
 
 Approving parents apparently think the kids are picking up on the altruistic motivations of the superheroes, when, in fact, the only thing that registers strongly is the characters’ aggressive behavior. “Engagement with superhero characters was not related to preschoolers’ general pro-social behavior, or defending (others),” the researchers write. 
 
 This makes sense when you think about it. After all, “the aggression seen in superhero media is very salient, repeated, rewarded, justified, glamorized, and instantaneous,” the researchers note. In contrast, the characters’ positive motivations are “more subtle, delayed between cause and effect, less glamorized, and intertwined with aggressive behaviors.” 
 
 As a result, “in the long-term, children are more likely to enact the aggression than the pro-social and defending behaviors,” Coyne and her colleagues conclude. 
 
 So when it comes to superhero stories, as with so many types of media, parents have a responsibility to not just plunk their kids down in front of the TV or computer, but to engage with them regarding the content of the program, and what they are getting out of it. 
 
 If they clearly enjoy watching Batman punch out a bad guy, it’s important that parents discuss why he did so — and how one can be a hero in real life without raising a fist. 

 Superheroes are usually thought of as the “good guys.” New research, however, finds that preschoolers often pick up on less positive traits such as aggression. 
 
 The finding stems from a study by Brigham Young University (BYU) family life professor Dr. Sarah M. Coyne. Coyne decided to study what it was, exactly, that preschool-aged boys and girls took away from exposure to superhero culture and it wasn’t the many positive traits that shone through. 
 
 “So many preschoolers are into superheroes and so many parents think that the superhero culture will help their kids defend others and be nicer to their peers,” Coyne said, “but our study shows the exact opposite. Kids pick up on the aggressive themes and not the defending ones.” 
 
 Coyne found that children who frequently engage with superhero culture are more likely to be physically and relationally aggressive one year later. 
 
 She even found the children were not more likely to be defenders of kids being picked on by bullies and were not more likely to be prosocial. 
 
 The study published this week in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 
 
 Last spring, Coyne authored a study on the effects of “Disney Princess” culture on young children, finding the perpetuation of stereotypes that could have damaging effects. Like her recommendations about princess culture, Coyne echoes the same sentiment with superhero culture: These findings do not suggest that parents need to totally disengage their children from superheroes. 
 
 “Again, I’d say to have moderation,” Coyne said. “Have your kids involved in all sorts of activities, and just have superheroes be one of many, many things that they like to do and engage with.” 
 
 Findings like these give parents the opportunity to have a conversation with their children. Coyne says to not be afraid of pointing out the positives as well as the negatives of the media their children are consuming. 
 
 Coyne theorizes that a reason why children may latch on to the violent behavior and not the prosocial behavior of superheroes is in part due to the complexity of the superhero media. 
 
 The vast majority of superhero programs are not created for preschool children, even though the current study found that many preschoolers still regularly watched superhero media. 
 
 These programs contain complex storylines that interweave violence and prosocial behavior, and preschoolers do not have the cognitive capability to pick out the wider moral message that is often portrayed. 
 
 Coyne also states that there is likely some additional desensitization associated with consuming violent media. Reduction in cognitive and emotional responses has been shown to be associated with exposure to violent media. 
 
 That reduction of response to the victims of violence on the TV screen, computer, or tablet, could be associated to a lack of empathy for the victims of violence on the playground or at school. 
 
 Participants in the study consisted of 240 children whose parents responded about the level of engagement their children had with superhero culture. Parents were asked how often their children watched superhero media and how much they identified with various superheroes. 
 
 Children were also individually interviewed, asked to identify 10 popular superheroes, then identify their favorite superhero, and explain why they liked that superhero the best. 
 
 The children’s responses in the study about their favorite superheroes provided important insight in the study: Various responses included superhero merchandise (26 percent), image (20 percent), and interpersonal characteristics (21 percent). 
 
 Researchers then used a subcode to examine any defending or violent themes. Of those who specified characteristics in superheroes, 10 percent noted some defending ability of the superheroes: “Because he shoots webs and he saves people.” 
 
 Twenty percent of these children associated their favorite superhero with some type of violent skills. For example, “He’s big and can punch” and “He smashes and gets angry.” 
 
 Some were milder, while others suggested blatant aggression. “Because he can smash and destroy everything, and he doesn’t care because he’s a big bully.” 
 
 Another child stated that Captain America was his favorite superhero “because he can kill.” 
 
 The remaining 70 percent of skills-related comments by children were benign in nature: “Because he is big and strong” and “Because he is cool and can fly.” 
 
 Coauthors on the study included fellow BYU professors Laura Stockdale and David Nelson, along with BYU graduate students Kevin Collier and Lee Essig, as well as Jennifer Linder from Linfield College. 
 
 Source: Brigham Young University 

 Abstract 
 
 Many schools and parents try to motivate children to become defenders of victimized peers. Defending behavior is common in the media (particularly in superhero programs); however, no study has examined the effect of media on defending behavior. The aim of the study was to examine longitudinal associations between superhero engagement and a variety of aggressive, prosocial, and defending behaviors in preschool children. Participants consisted of 240 preschoolers (49% male) and their parents who reported on child media use and outcomes at 2 different time points. Preschooler’s engagement with superheroes was related to increased physical and relational aggression 1 year later. Engagement with superheroes was not related to prosocial or defending behaviors. Implications of the results are discussed.
– A new study finds that children who are "highly engaged" with superheroes were more likely to be aggressive a year later. Researchers twice evaluated 240 preschoolers and kindergartners at four sites across the western US, analyzing their levels of three types of aggression at both points: physical (hitting, kicking), relational (hurting others' feelings through behaviors like ignoring), and verbal (name-calling). Parents reported on their kids' favorite superheroes and just how big of a fan their kids were—how often they watched movies or shows featuring superheroes, for example, and how strongly the kids identified with their favorite hero. The children also answered questions. In the end, researchers found that kids who were more engaged with superheroes were more likely to be physically and relationally aggressive at their second evaluation. Also troubling: The children were not found to be emulating superheroes in other ways, such as by being more likely to help or defend others, Pacific Standard reports. "Children in early childhood may be particularly at risk for the negative effects of media violence exposure when the superhero medium is emphasized," the researchers conclude. They theorize that at such a young age, it may be tricky for kids to "disentangle" the aggressive behaviors superheroes demonstrate from the altruistic, "pro-social" behaviors. They also speculate that exposure to superheroes may be more problematic for children than exposure to other types of aggression in media because parents tend to "endorse and support" a child's love of superheroes, in the hopes that their kids might learn to help others, Psych Central reports. (Want better behaved kids? Turn off violent TV.)