Top Paper Award for Ine Beyens and Patti Valkenburg

Dr. Ine Beyens, CID postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam, and Professor Patti Valkenburg, University Professor of Youth, Media, and Society at the University of Amsterdam and CID work package 1 PI, have received a Top Paper Award from the Children, Adolescents and Media Division of the International Communication Association.

Their paper ‘Which came first? Assessing transactional relationships between children’s violent media use and ADHD-related behaviors‘, co-authored by Dr. Jessica Taylor Piotrowski (University of Amsterdam), was competitively selected by the Awards Committee among a selection of 119 full paper submissions. The award was presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association last May in San Diego, USA.

In the paper, the relationship between children’s violent media use and ADHD-related behaviors is investigated, using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model with panel data from 890 children aged 4 to 8. Results provided evidence in support of a media selection process rather than media effects process whereby increased ADHD-related behaviors predicted an increase in violent media use in subsequent years. This longitudinal relationship was accounted for by within-child fluctuations over time, rather than stable between-child differences.

Beyens, I., Piotrowski, J.T., & Valkenburg, P.M. (2017). Which came first? Assessing transactional relationships between children’s violent media use and ADHD-related behaviors.

The paper was presented at the 67th International Communication Association Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, 25-29 May 2017.