Skip to main content

Obesogenic Behavior and Weight-Based Stigma in Popular Children's Movies, 2012 to 2015.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Howard, JB; Skinner, AC; Ravanbakht, SN; Brown, JD; Perrin, AJ; Steiner, MJ; Perrin, EM
Published in: Pediatrics
December 2017

BACKGROUND: Obesity-promoting content and weight-stigmatizing messages are common in child-directed television programming and advertisements, and 1 study found similar trends in G- and PG-rated movies from 2006 to 2010. Our objective was to examine the prevalence of such content in more recent popular children's movies. METHODS: Raters examined 31 top-grossing G- and PG-rated movies released from 2012 to 2015. For each 10-minute segment (N = 302) and for movies as units, raters documented the presence of eating-, activity-, and weight-related content observed on-screen. To assess interrater reliability, 10 movies (32%) were coded by more than 1 rater. RESULTS: The result of Cohen's κ test of agreement among 3 raters was 0.65 for binary responses (good agreement). All 31 movies included obesity-promoting content; most common were unhealthy foods (87% of movies, 42% of segments), exaggerated portion sizes (71%, 29%), screen use (68%, 38%), and sugar-sweetened beverages (61%, 24%). Weight-based stigma, such as a verbal insult about body size or weight, was observed in 84% of movies and 30% of segments. CONCLUSIONS: Children's movies include much obesogenic and weight-stigmatizing content. These messages are not shown in isolated incidences; rather, they often appear on-screen multiple times throughout the entire movie. Future research should explore these trends over time, and their effects.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Pediatrics

DOI

EISSN

1098-4275

Publication Date

December 2017

Volume

140

Issue

6

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Social Stigma
  • Social Facilitation
  • Risk Factors
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Prevalence
  • Pediatrics
  • Pediatric Obesity
  • Obesity
  • Motion Pictures
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Howard, J. B., Skinner, A. C., Ravanbakht, S. N., Brown, J. D., Perrin, A. J., Steiner, M. J., & Perrin, E. M. (2017). Obesogenic Behavior and Weight-Based Stigma in Popular Children's Movies, 2012 to 2015. Pediatrics, 140(6). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-2126
Howard, Janna B., Asheley Cockrell Skinner, Sophie N. Ravanbakht, Jane D. Brown, Andrew J. Perrin, Michael J. Steiner, and Eliana M. Perrin. “Obesogenic Behavior and Weight-Based Stigma in Popular Children's Movies, 2012 to 2015.Pediatrics 140, no. 6 (December 2017). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-2126.
Howard JB, Skinner AC, Ravanbakht SN, Brown JD, Perrin AJ, Steiner MJ, et al. Obesogenic Behavior and Weight-Based Stigma in Popular Children's Movies, 2012 to 2015. Pediatrics. 2017 Dec;140(6).
Howard, Janna B., et al. “Obesogenic Behavior and Weight-Based Stigma in Popular Children's Movies, 2012 to 2015.Pediatrics, vol. 140, no. 6, Dec. 2017. Pubmed, doi:10.1542/peds.2017-2126.
Howard JB, Skinner AC, Ravanbakht SN, Brown JD, Perrin AJ, Steiner MJ, Perrin EM. Obesogenic Behavior and Weight-Based Stigma in Popular Children's Movies, 2012 to 2015. Pediatrics. 2017 Dec;140(6).

Published In

Pediatrics

DOI

EISSN

1098-4275

Publication Date

December 2017

Volume

140

Issue

6

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Social Stigma
  • Social Facilitation
  • Risk Factors
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Prevalence
  • Pediatrics
  • Pediatric Obesity
  • Obesity
  • Motion Pictures