Christakis and his colleagues have conducted research on the risk factors of early television exposure, detailing an increased risk for the onset of attention, health, and behavioral issues in adolescents.[12] He is the co-author of The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids ( 2006).[13] His research also focused on how the language acquisition for children can be improved by playing blocks and how children are aggressive while watching violent cartoons at 7–10 years of age. As part of a popular
TEDx talk, Christakis spoke regarding the newborn brain and media exposure on children.[14][15][16] Christakis has been instrumental in the revision of national guidelines on pediatric screen exposure.[17] And his research was also instrumental in calling into question the efficacy of "Baby Einstein" (and similar) videos; his group's research, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, found that "for every hour a child 8 to 16 months old watched educational videos, they understood six to eight fewer words than their peers."[18][19]
During the
COVID-19 pandemic, Christakis appeared frequently on public media to help advance the public understanding of science related to the situation faced by children, particularly with respect to the harms accruing to children from having to be masked or out of school.[20][21][22][23][24][25]
Christakis was appointed the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Pediatrics in 2018.[26] In 2023, he was appointed the Chief Health Officer of Special Olympics International.
In 2010, Christakis received the Research Award for Lifetime Contribution by the
Academic Pediatric Association, and, in 2018, he was elected as Member of Washington State Academy of Sciences.[28][29]
Selected publications
Dimitri A. Christakis, Frederick J. Zimmerman, David L. DiGiuseppe and
Carolyn A. McCarty. "Early Television Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems in Children". Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.[30]
Dimitri A. Christakis, Loren Mell, Thomas D. Koepsell, Frederick J. Zimmerman and Frederick A. Connell. "Association of Lower Continuity of Care With Greater Risk of Emergency Department Use and Hospitalization in Children". Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.[31]
Christakis D A, and Feudtner C. "Ethics in a short white coat: the ethical dilemmas that medical students confront". Journal of Academic Medicine.[32]
Dimitri A Christakis. "The effects of infant media usage: what do we know and what should we learn?". Wiley Online Library.[33]
Dimitri A. Christakis, Jill Gilkerson, and Jeffrey A. Richards. "Audible Television and Decreased Adult Words, Infant Vocalizations, and Conversational Turns A Population-Based Study". JAMA Network.[34]