@article{ref1,
title="The sociocultural context of pediatric pain: an examination of the portrayal of pain  in children's popular media",
journal="Pain",
year="2020",
author="Mueri, Kendra and Kennedy, Madison and Pavlova, Maria and Jordan, Abbie and Lund, Tatiana and Neville, Alexandra and Belton, Joletta and Noel, Melanie",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="Pain (eg, needle injections, injuries, and chronic pain) is highly prevalent in  childhood and occurs in social contexts. Nevertheless, broader sociocultural  influences on pediatric pain, such as popular media, have not been empirically  examined. This study examined how pain is portrayed and gendered in children's  popular media. A cross-section of children's media targeted towards 4- to 6-year-old  children was selected based on popularity, including 10 movies and the first season  of 6 television shows. Pain instances were extracted and coded using 2 established  observational coding systems assessing sufferer pain characteristics and observer  responses (eg, empathic responses). <br><br>FINDINGS identified 454 instances of pain across  the selected media. Violent pain (ie, intentionally inflicted) and injuries were  most commonly represented, whereas everyday, chronic-type, and procedural pains were  infrequently portrayed. Pain instances were more commonly experienced by boy  characters, who also expressed greater distress; yet, observers were more responsive  (eg, expressed greater concern) towards girl characters' pain. Overall, observer  responses to pain were infrequent, with observers witnessing but not responding to  nearly half of pain instances. Observers who did respond expressed an overall lack  of empathy towards sufferers. These findings reveal a very narrow depiction of pain  presented in children's popular media, with an overall underrepresentation of pain,  numerous maladaptive portrayals of pain, and gender differences in both sufferer and  observer responses. This study underscores the need for further research to inform  how children's popular media is perceived by parents and children and how media may  be transformed and harnessed for effective pain education in childhood.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0304-3959",
doi="10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002086",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002086"
}