Letter to the Editor

Wrestling with Drinking, Violence and the Active Media Consumer

Authors: Fred Mason, PhD, MA, BA, BPE

Abstract

To the Editor:


In the February 2008 issue of the Southern Medical Journal, a study by Durant and colleagues demonstrates significant covariance between the frequency of 16 to 20-year-old adolescents watching professional wrestling and their engaging in a number of health risk behaviors, including unprotected sex, date fighting, and carrying weapons.1 The authors are to be commended for attempting to control for as many social variables as they could, and for being very careful to point out that this is not a cause and effect relationship. Meanwhile, the accompanying editorial and some of the media coverage leave it hard for readers to not make that logical leap themselves.2,3

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References

1.Durant RH, Nieberg R, Champion H, et al. Viewing professional wrestling on television and engaging in violent and other health risk behaviors. South Med J 2008;101:129–137.
 
2.Schetzina KE. Media exposure: the link with adolescent risk behaviors. South Med J 2008;101:118–119.
 
3.Norton A. Teens who watch wrestling take more health risks. [Reuters/Yahoo News]. February 19, 2008. Available at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080219/hl_nm/teens_wrestling_health_dc_1. Accessed February 22, 2008.
 
4.Burstyn V. The Rites of Men: Manhood, Politics and the Culture of Sport. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1999.
 
5.Austin EW, Pinkleton BE, Fijioka Y. The role of interpretation processes and parental discussion in the media’s effect on adolescents’ use of alcohol. Pediatrics 2000;105:343–349.