Cardiovascular Reactivity to Short Duration Videos in Adolescents: An Exploratory Study

The objective of this study is to observe the cardiovascular changes associated to the visualization of three YouTube video sequences: humor-sad-violent in an adolescent population. Thirty-two adolescents (16 males and 16 females) were shown three YouTube one-minute sequences (humor-sad-violent). At key points during the sequences, the cardiac rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) were recorded. A subjective perceptual evaluation of the videos was obtained. Statistical evaluation of the data was done with the Mann-Whitney test. Minor changes in HR and the diastolic blood pressure (DP) were recorded but did not prove to be statistically significant. Of statistical significance (p < 0.05), the males rated the violent sequence as more violent than the females did. There was a minor decrease of their HR and DP. An average 10 mmHg decrease in their systolic blood pressure nearly reached statistical significance (p = 0.067). In this exploratory study, exposure to a violent video sequence was associated with a decrease of the male adolescents’ average systolic pressure. It is suggested that such a response may mean a relaxing effect due to this activity. Further investigation is required with a larger cohort and continuous monitoring to confirm these findings.