Objective Unintentional injuries, the leading cause of death for American children, are caused by a range of psychosocial factors, including risk behavior. One factor that may impact child risk-taking is modeling of superhuman risk-taking from superhero media, both immediately following superhero exposure and based on lifetime exposure and engagement. Methods Fifty-nine 5-year-olds were randomly assigned to view either a 13-min age-appropriate superhero television show or a comparable nonsuperhero show. After the viewing, children engaged in three risk-taking measures: (a) activity room, unsupervised play for 5 min with assortment of apparently dangerous items that might encourage child risk-taking; (b) picture sort, 10 illustrations of children in risk situations, with participant response concerning intended risk-taking in that situation; and (c) vignettes, 10 stories presenting situations with varying degrees of risk, with participant response on intended choice. Parents completed questionnaires concerning children’s long-term superhero media exposure and individual superhero engagement (e.g., if child’s most recent Halloween costume was of a superhero). Correlations and regressions evaluated effects of immediate superhero exposure, lifetime superhero exposure, and lifetime superhero engagement on children’s risk-taking. Results Mixed results emerged. Lifetime superhero exposure was significantly related to children’s risk-taking outcomes in two bivariate (vignettes and picture sort) and one multivariate (picture sort) model. Neither immediate superhero exposure nor lifetime superhero engagement was strongly related to risk-taking. Conclusions Children’s lifetime superhero exposure may influence children’s risk-taking. Given American children’s substantial media exposure, research should continue to unpack the role of superhero media on children’s unintentional injury and other health risk behaviors.

中文翻译：

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超级英雄媒体对幼儿冒险行为的短期和长期影响

目的 意外伤害是美国儿童死亡的主要原因，是由包括危险行为在内的一系列社会心理因素引起的。可能影响儿童冒险的一个因素是对超级英雄媒体的超人冒险建模，无论是在超级英雄曝光之后立即进行，还是基于终生曝光和参与。方法 59 名 5 岁儿童被随机分配观看 13 分钟适合年龄的超级英雄电视节目或类似的非超级英雄节目。观看后，孩子们采取了三种冒险措施： (a) 活动室，在无人监督的情况下玩耍 5 分钟，其中包含可能鼓励孩子冒险的各种明显危险的物品；(b) 图片分类，10 幅儿童处于危险境地的插图，以及参与者对在这种境况下打算冒险的反应；(c) 小插曲，10 个故事，呈现具有不同风险程度的情况，参与者对预期选择做出反应。家长完成了关于儿童长期超级英雄媒体曝光和个人超级英雄参与度的问卷调查（例如，如果孩子最近的万圣节服装是超级英雄的）。相关性和回归评估了立即接触超级英雄、终身接触超级英雄和终身接触超级英雄对儿童冒险的影响。结果 喜忧参半的结果出现了。在两个双变量（小插曲和图片排序）和一个多变量（图片排序）模型中，终身接触超级英雄与儿童的冒险结果显着相关。无论是立即接触超级英雄还是终身参与超级英雄都与冒险没有密切关系。结论 儿童终生接触超级英雄可能会影响儿童的冒险行为。鉴于美国儿童的大量媒体曝光，研究应该继续揭示超级英雄媒体对儿童意外伤害和其他健康风险行为的作用。