Pain in the media: A content analysis of pain-related events in 'Made for Kids' YouTube videos.

During childhood, children are presented with ample opportunities to learn about pain, including through their own experiences and interactions with others. Another possible source of influence is the media they consume. Portrayals of pain in children's television, movies and picture books have previously been examined; however, less is known about other mediums, like YouTube, that reach millions of children. This study aimed to investigate how pain-related events are portrayed in popular children's YouTube videos. Videos from 15 popular 'Made for Kids' YouTube channels (30 videos/channel) were screened for pain-related events. Channels were selected based on popularity (highest subscribers and views). Videos that included pain-related events were analysed using codes adapted from previous studies of pain in children's media. Pain-related events were commonly represented and present in 174 videos, with impact portrayals (i.e., where pain and or injury would be expected in real life, but no evidence of either was present) being the most frequent, followed by minor pain/injury. Boy characters experienced pain-related events more frequently than girl characters, but girls demonstrated more prosocial behaviours in response to sufferers than boys. Characters/presenters with racialized identities were underrepresented in pain-related events, yet racial stereotypes of violence were present. Findings of this study align with previous work investigating portrayals of pain in children's popular television, movies and picture books; demonstrating that sociocultural messaging about pain is consistent across different types of children's media. Future research should consider children's perspectives on pain-related events in popular children's media. PERSPECTIVE: This article describes the frequency and characteristics of pain-related events in popular 'Made for Kids' YouTube videos. Understanding the characteristics of this content is an essential step in understanding how pain may be socialised to children in their everyday media engagement.