Berson, M. (2006). Finding ways to change behaviour. In 2006 NetSafe Symposium - Cybersafety & Security Online (pp. 44-46). NetSafe.

Key Points: Current efforts in internet safety education for children are effective at increasing knowledge, but ineffective in changing behavior.

Summary: This document is part of the published proceedings of an internet safety and security conference held in Wellington, New Zealand, in July of 2006. The document is a transcript of a plenary given by Dr. Michael Berson of the University of South Florida, where he comments on current efforts to provide internet safety education to children and future directions.

Evaluated efforts of well-funded internet safety education programs have been able to demonstrate an increase in knowledge, but none have demonstrated a significant change in behavior. Current efforts and legislation promoting traditional criminal justice models of behavior prevention are unlikely to succeed. There is too much emphasis on restricting children's access to pornography. Future efforts must get children to be critical consumers of the vast volumes of information they have access to. The critical question educators should be trying to answer is, "...how do children discern fact from fantasy?"

This document is available online. Link to the individual sections of the published proceedings from this conference.

Topics: Media/internet; prevention

Brown, J., L'Engle, K., Pardun, C., Guang, G., Kenneavy, K., & Jackson, C. (2006). Sexy media matter: Exposure to sexual content in music, movies, television, and magazines predicts black and white adolescents' sexual behavior. Pediatrics, 117, 1018-1027.

Key Points: Media is more likely to influence the sexual behavior of white adolescents than black adolescents.

Summary: This article reports the findings of a longitudinal study of 1,017 adolescents regarding their media use. The study found that white adolescents exposed to sexual content in music, movies, television, and magazines increased their sexual activity and were at higher risk of engaging in early sexual intercourse. Black adolescents were less influenced by the media. Instead, black adolescents were more influenced by their perceptions of their parent's expectations and the sexual behavior of their peers.

Topics: Adolescent/high school; media/internet

Forbes, G., Adams-Curtis, L., Pakalka, A., & White, K. (2006). Dating aggression, sexual coercion, and aggression-supporting attitudes among college men as a function of participation in aggressive high school sports. Violence Against Women, 12, 441-455.

Key Points: Participation in aggressive sports is associated with attitudes that support violence against women, and violent acts against women. This study does not, however, imply causal relationships between sports and violence against women (i.e. that aggressive sports cause men to be more violent, or that violent men choose to play aggressive sports).

Summary: This article describes the findings from a study of 147 college men, in which 115 men reported that they had participated in 1 or more sports in high school. Of these 115 men, 101 men had played an "aggressive" sport (football, basketball, wrestling, or soccer). Relative to a comparison group of 46 men, the men who had participated in an aggressive sport in high school reported that they used more psychological and physical aggression, and more sexual coercion in their college dating relationships. These men also scored higher on measures of Acceptance of Violence, Hostility Toward Women, Rape Myth Acceptance, and Homonegativity scales.

Topics: Adolescent/high school; athletes

Katz, J. & Lang, J. (2003). Building a "big tent" approach to working with men. Family Violence Prevention Fund [On-line]. Available: http://www.endabuse.org/bpi/discussion1/Discussion1-long.pdf

Key Points: Effective gender violence prevention requires an inclusive approach that builds broad coalitions.

Summary: This paper makes a case for a "big tent" approach to gender violence prevention. Instead of focusing simply on potential victims or potential perpetrators, such an approach takes a wider view of violence prevention. Broad coalitions must be formed between varied communities and organizations, as well as across fields and professions. Groups and organizations with large male memberships should be particularly focused on. Six cases studies of such prevention efforts are included in the document.

This document is available at:
http://www.endabuse.org/bpi/discussion1/Discussion1-long.pdf

Topics: Prevention

Updated 08/01/07