How Childrens' TV Shows Affect Thought Formation on Mental Illness

Informed Consent:

How Childrens’ TV Shows Affect Thought Formation on Mental Illness

Maddie Remenap: remen1mj@cmich.edu

Lexi McCue: mccue1ad@cmich.edu

Dan McLaughlin: mclau1dw@cmich.edu

Maggie Petix: petix1mc@cmich.edu

Project Description: 

Spongebob is one of the most popular cartoons that the Millennials and Generation Z children grew up watching.  We plan to examine the language that Spongebob uses in order to relay messages about mental illness, specifically depression and ADHD, to children.  We will research this by conducting surveys and interviews to participants from these generations in hopes to see if there is a correlation between mental illness and kids who grew up watching Spongebob.  Reading different types of literature and conducting research of our own will help us to dive into the issue of mental illness and how it is presented to children in our world today and examine how exposure to media at a young age affects a child’s viewpoints on depression and ADHD. 

Procedure and Risks:

 I would like to use the information from this survey in my English 201 paper.  No personal identifiers will be used to ensure your anonymity. Please feel free to say as much or as little as you want.  You can decide not to answer any question or to stop the survey any time you want.  

There are no known risks associated with participation in the study. 

Benefits:

 It is hoped that your insight into the topic of my research will help me in my understanding of this issue and will help me succeed in my English course.

Cost Compensation:

 Participation in this study will involve no costs or payments to you.

Confidentiality:

 All information collected during the study period will be kept strictly confidential and will be destroyed after the project is completed. No publications or reports from this project will include identifying information on any participant. Thank you for your time.