Erica Scharrer

My research interests involve the study of media content, opinions of media, media effects, and media literacy, particularly regarding gender and/or aggression. I am also quite interested in the role of media in the lives of children and adolescents, and I study young people's responses to media literacy education.

My recent articles have appeared in Sex Roles, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Children and Media, and International Journal of Communication. My most recent book is titled, Quantitative Research Methods in Communication: The Power of Numbers for Social Justice (2021), and is co-authored with Srividya Ramasubramanian.  

Courses Taught: 

Undergraduate: Social Impact of Media; Children, Teens, and Media; Media Violence. Graduate: Quantitative Methods; Media Literacy; Media Effects, Content Analysis

Publications: 

• with co-author Stephen Warren. "Adolescents’ modern media use and beliefs about masculine gender roles and norms." Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10776990211035453. 2022.
• with co-authors Yuxi Zhou, Yena Kang, Alina Durrani, Nora Suren, and Emma Butterworth. "Tough guys and trucks: Early adolescents’ critical analysis of masculinity in a TV commercial." International Journal of Communication. 2022.
• with co-author Yuxi Zhou. "A qualitative study of early adolescents’ critical thinking about the content and consequences of media violence." Journal of Media Literacy Education. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2021-13-3-8. 2021.
• with co-authors Stephen Warren, Eean Grimshaw, Gichui Kamau, Sarah Cho, Menno Reijven, and Congcong Zhang. "Disparaged dads? A content analysis of depictions of fathers in U.S. sitcoms over time." Psychology of Popular Media. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000289. 2021.
• with co-authors Stephen Warren, Christine Olson, and Porntip Twishime. Scharrer, E., "Early adolescents’ views of media ratings in the context of a media literacy program in the United States." Journal of Children and Media. doi:10.1080/17482798.2020.1711788. 2020.
• with co-authors Laras Sekarasih, Christine J. Olson, Gamze Onut, & Kylie Lanthorn. "Effectiveness of a school-based media literacy curriculum in encouraging critical attitudes about advertising content and form among boys and girls." Journal of Advertising, https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2018.1545269. 2019.
• with co-authors Christine J. Olson, Kylie Lanthorn, Gamze Onut, and Laras Sekarasih. "Producing PSAs on consumer culture: Youth reception of advertising." Critical Studies in Media Communication. doi: 10.1080/15295036.2018.1526390. 2019.
• with co-author Greg Blackburn. "Cultivating conceptions of masculinity: Overall television use, genre viewing, and perceptions of norms regarding masculine gender roles." Mass Communication & Society. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2017.1406118. 2018.
• with co-author Greg Blackburn. "Video game playing and beliefs about masculinity among male and female emerging adults." Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-018-0934-4. 2018.
• with co-author Greg Blackburn. "Is reality TV a Bad Girls Club? The ability of overall television and docusoap reality television exposure to cultivate approval of aggression." Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. DOI: 10.1177/1077699017706482. 2017.
• with co-authors Karen Dill-Shackleford, Srividya Ramasubramanian, Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, Melinda Burgess, and Dafna Lemish. "Social groups stories in the media and child development." Pediatrics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1758W. 2017.

Current Projects: 

Current work includes a review article on diversity and representation in U.S. media and articles on gender and media literacy.