Jillian Lesikar has been interested in how screen time may influence young children’s behaviors since her son was a baby. She noticed he was more likely to have a meltdown after he finished watching children’s programs such as “Paw Patrol” or “Cocomelon” but not ones like “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.”
Lesikar, an online learner with Penn State World Campus, was able to dig deeper into this subject as an undergraduate student, gaining what she called valuable research experience that solidified her decision to continue her education.
“I'm going back to my original dream of going to medical school,” said Lesikar, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies in December. “I’d like to focus more on clinical research from here on.”
Lesikar and her team of undergraduates worked through the Online Students of Psychology Research Laboratory at Penn State under the supervision of Anthony Nelson, an associate teaching professor and the director of the psychology programs available through World Campus. Lesikar also was awarded an Erickson Discovery Grant from Penn State that funded an incentive for recruiting toddlers’ parents to participate in the study.
The idea for a research study
Lesikar is a mother of two and the wife of an Air Force airman stationed in San Antonio, Texas. She enrolled at Penn State through World Campus in 2021 as a full-time student who was also raising her family.
Lesikar joined Nelson’s research lab as a way to gain experience with an eye toward a career in the sciences. She decided to focus her research on the screen time topic, and she worked with a team of fellow World Campus students.
“I've been thinking about this research topic for about four-and-a-half years now, since my son was a baby,” said Lesikar, whose son is now 5. “There are theories that fast-paced shows are a constant hit of dopamine every few seconds. It was just a lot harder for my son to stop those shows than others that were slow and more educational. But there's not really research to support this, and that’s what made me want to see.”
Getting experience doing undergraduate research
Through the Online Students of Psychology Research Laboratory, Lesikar was able to experience the research process, from identifying the topic, recruiting participants and collecting data, analyzing the data, and presenting some of her preliminary findings.
Her research group recruited parents of toddlers to observe, on Zoom, the children’s behavior after they watched certain children’s shows. They used funding from the Erickson Discovery Grant to provide participants with $30 Amazon gift cards.
The toddlers were shown episodes of “Sesame Street,” a slow-paced show with scene changes every 1 to 3 minutes, and “Paw Patrol,” a faster-paced show that Lesikar said averaged a scene change every 15 to 20 seconds. The episodes either had high-empathy value, such as when characters showed kindness, or low-empathy value, when the content is neutral.
After the toddlers watched the episodes, the parents were asked to induce reactions from their children. For instance, if the parents pretended to cry after a fast-paced, high-empathy episode of “Paw Patrol,” would the toddler show comfort to the parent? If the parents laughed, would the child laugh, too? If the parent asked the child to be quiet, would the child listen?
Lesikar and her fellow researchers observed and scored the toddlers’ reactions.
She presented her research as a poster at a first-of-its-kind event in December, the World Campus Psychology Research Showcase.
Lesikar said she wants to submit her research as a pilot study in an undergraduate research journal, with the hope that other researchers could build upon her contributions.
Research opportunities for online learners
Nelson created the Online Students of Psychology Research Laboratory in 2016 to give Penn State World Campus students who want to participate in research a way to have that experience.
“Research transforms the undergraduate educational experience,” Nelson said. “By applying knowledge from their course work to explore their most pressing questions about the world, students develop essential skills in analysis, critical thinking, and scientific literacy. This experience not only prepares them for their graduate studies and careers, but it also enhances their ability to critically evaluate information — an essential skill in today’s era of information overload.”
The lab hosts 15 students, all of whom are contributing to research projects.
A group of students recently presented a poster summarizing one such project — focused on the societal attitudes regarding the sexual health of individuals with autism — at the Eastern Psychological Association conference in New York. The team said they plan to submit a manuscript describing their findings to a peer-reviewed journal.
Another team is looking at the role of personality on the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions to improve the quality of life of patients with vasculitis, which describes a group of inflammatory diseases that affect the blood vessels.
Another one investigates the potential of brief, daily mindfulness practices delivered through smartphone apps to reduce sports-related anxiety and enhance athletic performance, offering a more accessible and time-efficient alternative to traditional mindfulness interventions for athletes.
Collectively, Nelson said, the diverse research projects highlight the lab's commitment to advancing psychological science and addressing real-world challenges across various populations and contexts.
Nelson said he is proud that students like Lesikar have success with undergraduate research and use it as a springboard to further their education and to lead them to careers in the sciences.
A Penn State education online
Penn State World Campus has offered a Penn State education online for more than 25 years and features a comprehensive selection of more than 200 degrees and certificates.
Students who learn online through World Campus can participate in a variety of activities to enhance their education, including research.
Find out more about how online learning works at Penn State World Campus.