议程设置理论与后大众媒体时代的民意研究

关于媒体与民意的理论大部分提出于 1 93 0到 1 980年之间 ,这是一个仅仅拥有传统信息选择方式的时代。麦库姆斯和肖 (1 972 )最初提出议程设置理论时 ,用北卡罗莱纳州的教堂山 (ChapelHill)社区作为研究对象 ,而现在那里的媒介使用情况也已经发生了巨变。当我们迎来议程设置理论提出 3 0周年的时候 ,教堂山的受众现在面临的信息选择令人惊叹。在 2 0世纪 90年代 ,肖提出 ,美国的大众媒介已经经历了“兴和衰”(riseandfall)。肖认为 ,大众媒体时代结束于 2 0世纪 80年代。议程设置研究是否能像之前的 3 0年那样 ,继续开展下去 ?当受众使用着上百个信息来源时 ,议程设置和民意研究会产生何种变化 ?这是本文将要回答的问题     

Gay On-Screen: The Relationship Between Exposure to Gay Characters on Television and Heterosexual Audiences' Endorsement of Gay Equality

The current study, grounded in the parasocial contact hypothesis, employed a survey of emerging adults to investigate the relationship between exposure to gay characters on television and heterosexuals' endorsement of gay equality. A positive relationship existed between exposure to on-screen gay characters and gay equality endorsement. The relationship was stronger for racial minority participants than for White participants, and for participants who had no or few interpersonal relationships with openly gay individuals than for participants who had more than three respective relationships. Results are discussed in terms of the parasocial contact hypothesis and television as an agent of social change.     

Substance Abuse Policies in Long-Term Care Facilities: A Survey with Implications for Education of Long-Term Care Providers

The aging of the Baby Boom presents long-term care with many new challenges. Among these are the historically high levels of drug use by this cohort. This study surveyed administrators of licensed skilled nursing facilities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky regarding their perception of current drug use by residents, facility policies and procedures currently in place regarding illicit drug use, and their attitudes toward use of illicit drugs by residents. The results of interviews with 40 administrators or their designees revealed that they have experienced little problem with use or abuse of illegal drugs by residents. Fewer than one-third of the facilities had formal policies in place regarding illegal drug use. Only 10% had any experience with requests for medical marijuana, but almost one in five had a policy on the matter and nearly one-third stated they would support medical marijuana use by some of their residents if the matter arose. These authors recommend the following: (a) that the issue of illicit drug use needs to be addressed now before the situation becomes critical, (b) that administrators and staff need to be educated about recreational drug use and appropriate responses to drug abuse, (c) that screening instruments for drug abuse in this population should be developed and implemented, and (d) that policies regarding medical marijuana need to be adopted by all such facilities.     

Scientific Inquiry Self-Efficacy and Computer Game Self-Efficacy as Predictors and Outcomes of Middle School Boys’ and Girls’ Performance in a Science Assessment in a Virtual Environment

Journal of Science Education and Technology - The primary aim of the study was to examine whether performance on a science assessment in an immersive virtual environment was associated with changes...     

Associations of Home and Classroom Environments with Head Start Children's Code-Related and Oral Language Skills

This study used data from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2009 4-year-old cohort to examine associations among family characteristics, home and classroom environments, and the emergent literacy skills of Head Start children. Results from hierarchical linear models suggest that both family and classroom contexts play a unique and interactive role in supporting Head Start children's development of different sets of emergent literacy skills. Parental warmth was positively related to children's oral language skills (i.e., receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge), and teachers' educational level and the quality of instructional support in the classroom were significantly associated with children's code-related skills (i.e., letter-name and letter-sound knowledge). Further, high-quality instructional support in the classroom buffered the negative influence of low maternal education on children's oral language skills. Interventions focusing on enhancing the quality of parent-child interactions, in addition to professional development for teachers designed to improve the quality of instructional support, may contribute to promoting the development of emergent literacy skills of young children from low-income families.