Disney: You either love it or you hate it. Personally, I love Disney. I grew up with Disney princesses and Disney Channel movies (currently watching High School Musical), and I am a strong believer that the shows and movies promote prosocial behavior and are a big benefit to children. There are some people who believe that Disney promotes bad habits, but a recent study looking at the Disney Junior Show Doc McStuffins. The show features a child named Dottie, nicknamed, "Doc," who's dream is to become a doctor like her mother. In the meantime, she is a doctor to her toys, who come to life when she presses the button on her stethoscope. A study titled, "How Healthy is the Doc? A Content Analysis of the Doc Mcstuffins Show," done by Lisa Grace-Leitch, viewed and analyzed 300 minutes of the show to see if it created healthy behaviors (focusing on nutrition and physical fitness) in children. Their hypothesis was that there would be positive cues to healthy behaviors in every episode. The analysis showed that 100% of the episodes had cues to healthy behaviors, and included cues to both nutrition and physical fitness. Their second hypothesis was that the show would only cue healthy behaviors. Their analysis showed that 76% of the cues were positive, 23% were negative, and 1% were neutral. The examples of negative behaviors included characters who were being the "bad" example, like sitting out instead of playing, and once Doc asked for whipped cream on her smoothie, the article says.
Overall, Doc McStuffins encouraged healthy behaviors. Childhood obesity is a huge problem in America, and if children are going to be watching television shows, it is good to have one with a healthy main character that also normalizes going to the doctor. Below is the link to the full journal article if you would like to read the entire study.
How Healthy is the Doc?
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