Karen Sternheimer is the author of Kids These Days: Facts and Fictions About Today’s Youth (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006) and It’s Not the Media: The Truth About Pop Culture’s Influence on Children (Westview Press, 2003). Connecting Popular Culture and Social Problems: Why The Media is not the Answer will be published by Westview Press in August 2009. She is also the editor and lead writer for everydaysociologyblog.com.

Dr. Sternheimer currently teaches in the sociology department at the University of Southern California, where she is also a faculty fellow at the USC Center for Excellence in Teaching. Her research focuses on issues related to popular culture and youth, particularly trends in youth behavior. Specific topics of inquiry have included youth violence, kidnapping, substance use, child obesity, teen pregnancy, teen driving, and fears about the effects of media on children. Her current research examines American celebrity culture from both  contemporary and historical perspectives.

Her commentary has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, the San Jose Mercury News, and other newspapers around the country. Sternheimer is also a sought-out source for journalists around the world, and has been interviewed for dozens of magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Variety, Child, and Ladies’ Home Journal, as well as for publications in China, Japan, and South America.

In addition, she has provided commentary for CNN, The O’Reilly Factor, MSNBC, Fox News, The History Channel and other televised programs, and has been a guest on numerous radio shows nationally and internationally, including NPR’s Marketplace, Bloomberg radio and Voice of America.

 
Professor Sternheimer holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Southern California. She also earned a master’s degree in psychology from Pepperdine University and a bachelor of fine arts degree in drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.