Gloria DeGaetano, founder of The Parent Coaching Institute, talks with Rona Zlokower, Executive Director of Media Power Youth. Based in Manchester, NH, Media Power Youth is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) working statewide and nationally in collaboration with health and prevention programs, school districts, communities, research institutions, businesses and foundations to provide a continuum of evidence based, health-focused media literacy education for youth, parents, and professionals. Media Power Youth serves children and teens, parents, and professionals through their lectures, conference keynotes, workshops, and grassroots collaborations to bring media literacy education to schools and communities.

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“Media Power Youth has become a model public health/media literacy program that all communities would do well to adopt.”

In writing about media violence in her book with Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie, and Video Game Violence, Gloria compiled the convincing research that demonstrates media violence as a significant factor in youth violence. Much evidence continues to verify this. For instance, in a February 2013 report on youth violence by the National Science Foundation, media violence was listed as one of the top three risk factors. In fact, it is right up there with access to guns and mental health.

But media violence is the one significant factor in youth violence that we all can do something about. Parents play a pivotal role in supplying kids with important protective factors to “immunize” them against potential negative effects. A terrific resource for parents, Media Power Youth has developed programs and now a statewide initiative in New Hampshire that tackles youth violence at its core—by teaching media literacy to counter the potential negative influences of media violence. We know from the research that on-going exposure to violent imagery can affect kids in four basic ways:

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