Cultivation Effects on Quality of Life Indicators: Exploring the Effects of American Television Consumption on Feelings of Relative Deprivation in South Korea and India

A hypothetical path model investigated how viewing U.S. television would be associated with feelings of relative deprivation among Asians. The South Korean survey data (N = 352) revealed that viewing U.S. television was associated with estimates of Americans' affluence, and the estimates were in turn associated with dissatisfaction with Korean society. The Indian survey data (N = 333) showed that viewing U.S. television was directly associated with both dissatisfaction with personal life and dissatisfaction with Indian society. The findings suggest that people in both countries may universally experience perceptions of relative deprivation associated with U.S. television consumption.     

Beyond Materialism: The Role of Health-Related Beliefs in the Relationship Between Television Viewing and Life Satisfaction Among College Students

Prior research has typically focused on materialism and the perceptions of general others' affluence to explain the link between television viewing and life satisfaction. This study extends our understanding of such a relationship by demonstrating the mediation of health-related perceptions. Surveys were administered to 274 college students at a large southeastern university, and the data were subjected to path analyses. Results reveal that overall television viewing was associated with viewers' perceptions of others' health risks and of personal health risks; in turn, these perceptions significantly related to life satisfaction. Further, overall television viewing was indirectly associated with perception of self-efficacy in maintaining personal health, which in turn reduced life satisfaction. These results indicate that health-related perceptions help establish the association between television viewing and life satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.     

Feeling Connected via Television Viewing: Exploring the Scale and Its Correlates

Contextualized in television program viewing, the current study seeks to develop a new scale that captures individuals' feelings of being connected to others via media consumption. Literature on general human motivation and media consumption motivation sheds light on social relatedness in television experiences. Data suggest a three-factor structure of the focal concept of feeling connected via television viewing (FCTV): (1) a perception of shared viewing among one's immediate social circle and anticipation of subsequent communication as aided by television programs, (2) a sense of global community enhanced by shared television experiences, and (3) communication with distant unknown others. A stronger sense of FCTV predicts a greater tendency for an individual to watch a program when it is first released, and to watch it together with one's friends, as well as a higher level of general involvement with television. Further, we differentiate the focal concept of feeling connected to other television viewers via television viewing from the related concept of parasocial interaction with television characters. Relative to parasocial interaction, FCTV better predicts collective viewing and first-run viewing.     

Does TV Viewing Cultivate Meritocratic Beliefs? Implications for Life Satisfaction

The purpose of this article was to explore the cultivation effects of television viewing on meritocratic belief systems (particularly, system justification) and ultimately on perceived life satisfaction. Results of a cross-sectional survey (N = 276) reveal that genre-specific TV viewing cultivates system-justifying beliefs. More specifically, findings suggest that heavy viewing of competition-based reality TV viewing shapes viewers' economic system-justifying beliefs (i.e., the belief that the economic system is fair and legitimate, rewarding those who put in the effort and hard work). Economic system justifying beliefs, in turn, were shown to enhance viewers' perceived life satisfaction.     

Sex in College Relationships: The Role Television Plays in Emerging Adults’ Sexual Expectations in Relationships

The purpose of this study was to determine whether emerging adults use relationship television to form their expectations for sexual interaction in romantic relationships. Considering emerging adulthood is a unique period of development providing opportunities to experiment with adult identities, and relationship television contains multiple consistent messages about gender roles in sexual relationships, we questioned whether emerging adults’ relationship television viewing may be related to their sexual expectations in relationships. Our findings indicated women's relationship television viewing was associated with expecting more sexual interaction in their relationship. Men's sexual expectations were moderated by perceived realism. Men who watched more relationship television, and perceived that television to be less realistic, reported expecting less frequent sexual interaction.     

When TV and Marriage Meet: A Social Exchange Analysis of the Impact of Television Viewing on Marital Satisfaction and Commitment

Although several studies have examined the association between television viewing and romantic relationships, differences in theoretical grounding, methodology, and findings have produced a picture that is decidedly unclear. Furthermore, past research has been directed primarily toward general relational attitudes and hypothetical relational behaviors without considering potential effects of viewing on existing, long-term relationships. This study sought to address these issues by drawing on the theoretical traditions of cultivation analysis, uses and gratifications, and social exchange theory to explore the associations among relationship variables and measures of both television viewing and belief in television portrayals by analyzing data collected from 392 married individuals. Results revealed that both heavier viewing of romantically themed programming and greater belief in television's portrayals of romantic relationships were associated with lower marital commitment, higher expected and perceived costs of marriage, and more favorable perceptions of alternatives to one's current relationship.     

Affluenza Revisited: Casting Doubt on Cultivation Effects

The researchers use three secondary analyses to explore further the “affluenza” claims linking amount of television viewing with consumerist/materialist values and “affluenza symptoms” such as life dissatisfaction. Those links were generally supported by multiple regression analysis, though at low levels of explanatory power. Heavy news viewing ran in the opposite direction, with heavy TV news viewing correlated with less consumerist values. The authors also found that viewing by streaming on portable devices did not show affluenza correlations. These findings suggest that active audience program selectivity plays a broader role than that envisioned by cultivation theory.     

The effects of nonverbal reinforcement and interviewee‐interviewer relationship on interviewee's verbal response

Utilizing survey data from 99 nursing home residents in nursing home facilities serving Medicaid patients, this study investigated the relationship of interpersonal network involvement to perceived life satisfaction and perceived need accommodations. Each subject completed three survey instruments developed to measure (a) resident's perceived quality care, (b) residents’ satisfaction with personal need accommodation and (c) interpersonal network satisfaction. Residents’ perceptions of quality care (i.e., attitude of staff, food, and self‐selected social activities) and satisfaction with roommates are significant predictors of perceived needs being met. Further, residents are more satisfied with self‐selected relationships than with institutionally‐selected roommates.     

Verbal aggression: A study of the relationship between communication traits and feelings about a verbally aggressive television show

This study investigated the relationship between people's communication tendencies for sending and receiving verbally aggressive messages with their opinions and feelings about a verbally aggressive television show. Participants (N=216) completed measures of verbal aggressiveness and psychological hurt before viewing a 7‐minute clip from the television show Daddy Dearest. Participants then completed measures for show affinity, character affinity, and show realism. The results showed that people who were verbally aggressive, tended to watch more television weekly, and did not report being hurt by receiving verbally aggressive messages, expressed more affinity for the character and the show and perceived the show to be similar to real life. People who reported greater psychological hurt from receiving verbally aggressive messages and tended to watch more television weekly also reported that the show was similar to real life.     

Television Use and Social Capital: Testing Putnam's Time Displacement Hypothesis

Robert Putnam (1995a, 19956) charged that television is the driving force behind the decline in social capital in America. He argued that television viewing has privatized our leisure time, thus inhibiting participation outside the home. However, Putnam's time displacement hypothesis never has been tested. We empirically examined the extent to which television reduces social capital through time displacement. Analyses of data from a Midwestern city (N = 416) did not support the time displacement hypothesis; time spent with television did not affect civic engagement through perceptions of time pressure. There was only a direct negative impact of television viewing time on civic engagement. Time spent reading newspapers enhanced engagement. Moreover, this relation worked indirectly through time pressures-the more time spent with newspapers, the less time pressures one perceived.     

It's Not Always About The Money: Using Narrative Analysisto Explore Newspaper Coverageof the Act of Collecting

Over the last few years, the number of television dating shows has increased exponentially from 2 to over 28 during the period of 2000 to 2002. The purpose of this study was to examine demographic variables, personality characteristics, and attachment styles of individuals who view television dating shows. Furthermore, motives for viewing television dating shows and viewers' responses to the content were examined. A convenience sample of 601 participants, including 413 who watch television dating shows, were solicited to complete the Internet-mediated study. Results revealed significant demographic differences between the two groups and demographic variables were associated with specific television viewing practices. An exploratory factor analysis revealed three motives for viewing television dating shows: excitability, social learning, and escape. Sensation-seeking, attachment style, and motives for watching television dating shows were predictive of viewing practices. These findings suggest that viewing television programming such as dating shows may be a viable source of arousal for sensation seekers. Both theoretical and applied implications of these findings are explored.     

An integrated model of parental mediation: the effect of family communication on children's perception of television reality and negative viewing effects

This study proposed and tested an integrated model of parental mediation involving family communication, parental mediation styles, children's perceptions of televised realities and the actual world, and perceptions of the negative effects of television viewing. A total of 348 Korean adolescents participated in a nationwide survey. The findings demonstrated that parental, instructive mediation, in combination with open family communication, increased not only children's perceived disparity between televised realities and the actual world, but also children's perceptions of the potentially negative effects of television. Restrictive parental mediation styles were also found to mediate the role of open family communication on children's perception of negative effects of television. In contrast, co-viewing mediation was not found to directly affect either the children's perceived reality or their perception of negative effects of television viewing.     

Minority Stress and LGB-Inclusive Television Viewing Frequency Among LGB Adults: The Roles of Community Connectedness and Perceived Social Support

Using a cross-sectional, correlational design, the present study examined the moderating roles of perceived social support and community connectedness in the relationship between minority stress and viewing frequency of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)–inclusive television shows among LGB adults. Participants identified predominately as White and female, and the largest group identified as bisexual. Participants completed self-report measures of minority stressors, social support, LGB community connectedness, and viewing frequency. A multiple linear regression was conducted to examine the relationships among these variables. Findings revealed that perceived social support moderated the effect of prejudice events on viewing frequency, such that LGB viewers who reported high levels of prejudice events and low perceived social support endorsed the highest levels of viewing frequency. These findings provide further insight into the ways in which LGB individuals consume media content and may be informative for clinicians in understanding coping strategies for minority stress among LGB clients.     

Family Television Viewing and Its Alternatives: Associations with Closeness within and between Generations

Audience research on family television viewing flourished in the 1980s and 1990s. These studies highlighted watching television as a family as a valuable family routine, structuring the rhythm of daily life and generating family harmony. Ever since, we have witnessed changes in both family structures and media structures, which have affected the ways television is consumed within the household. This begs the question whether earlier findings considering family closeness still hold up. Therefore, this study conducted a cross-sectional survey among a sample of 691 Belgian individuals, nested in 288 families. Drawing upon insights from literature on family rituals and media generations, the results of this study indicate that despite a robust prevalence of family viewing, alternative social patterns emerge coinciding with the appropriation of screen technologies beyond living room television. Further analysis reveals that deviations from family viewing are associated with lower closeness between generations. However, younger generations watching together do report higher levels of closeness with their generational counterparts.     

Interactivity in Television: Use and Impact of an Interactive Program Guide

This study is designed to examine the uses and impact of interactive program guides (IPGs), a television technology that enables viewer inter- activity. Data were obtained from a television survey of 365 IPG users in a medium-sized Midwestern community. Results showed that age, premium channel subscribership, perceived IPG utility, and IPG complexity were significant predictors for IPG use. Further, the study found evidence that the IPG has influenced users' viewing behaviors. IPG use was related to watching more television, viewing enriched program types, and having a larger digital cable channel repertoire.     

Need for Orientation and Third-Person Effects of the Televised Debates in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

The televised debates in the 2016 presidential election took place between two controversial candidates, Hillary Clinton and her opponent, Donald Trump, who faced a deeply divided electorate of highly opinioned voters that had already decided on their supported candidates. How did viewing the debates influence them? Would the debates reinforce their existing opinion, or provide them with useful information about the candidates? Drawing on Davison’s third-person effect hypothesis, this study aims to shed light on the question of how viewing the debates influences voters relative to others in the era of social media. The study focuses on the need for orientation as a predictor of debate exposure and the behavioral consequences of debate exposure for electoral engagement on social media. Findings show that partisans are not impacted by viewing the debates, but respondents perceived Independents to be most vulnerable. Further, need for orientation moderated the relationship between debate exposure and perceived effects of the debates on self, which prompted respondents to mobilize support for the candidate of their choice and to vote for their supported candidates.     

When Good Friends Say Goodbye: A Parasocial Breakup Study

This study examines viewers' reactions to parasocial breakup with mediated characters in light of interpersonal and mass communication theories. Following the airing of the last episode of the television show Friends, 279 students completed surveys assessing their viewing habits, their attitudes toward the show and their favorite character, and their loneliness. The intensity of the parasocial relationship with the favorite character is the strongest predictor of breakup distress. Other predictors include commitment and affinity to the show, the character's perceived popularity, and the participant's loneliness. The results shed light on the similarities and differences between parasocial and social relationships.     

Doctoral dissertations in radio and television

The perceived social realism of television series featuring families with children and adolescents was studied. For the two family series they watched the most, 460 2nd, 6th, and 10th graders indicated the percentage of real‐life American families they believed were like the television family on 13 different characteristics. Findings suggest that perceived social realism judgments are sensitive to content, as are developmental patterns in judgment. They further suggest that disparate findings among previous studies of age changes in perceived social realism may be explained by age, the content judged, the realism criterion used for judgment, and familiarity with both the content and its real‐life referents.     

Television and Family Values: Was Dan Quayle Right?

In this article, we explore the extent to which heavy television viewers' beliefs about the real world are consistent with the most repetitive and overarching patterns that television presents, especially in its dramatic entertainment programs. We test the hypothesis (put forth by many besides Dan Quayle) that television encourages viewers to embrace alternatives to the traditional 2-parent family. For purposes of conceptual clarity, we chose to focus on the question of illegitimacy and single parenthood, which is most directly related to the Murphy Brown controversy and is frequently touched on in many strands of political discourse. We reviewed previous research on television portrayal of the family and then used the 1988 and 1994 General Social Surveys (Davis & Smith, 1996) to assess relations between television viewing and judgments about illegitimacy and single parenthood. The data do not contradict Quayle's contention that television viewing is contributing to fraying of traditional family values.