Effects of cartoons on emotionally disturbed children's social behavior in school settings

Four classes of emotionally disturbed (ED) children (20 boys and 6 girls, age: M = 8.1 yr) were exposed to six aggressive and six control cartoons. Treatment effects were assessed using direct observations of five categories of behavior during lunch and recess for baseline and the two cartoon conditions. The results revealed significantly more nonphysical aggression following the control cartoons than during baseline across setting and more physical aggression following the control cartoons relative to the aggressive cartoon and baseline conditions in the recess setting. The findings are discussed with regard to their clinical implications and comparability with other field experiments.