Determining what aspects of television entertainment program content influence a viewer in his decision about the real/pretend nature of that content was the purpose of this study, in which interviews were conducted with children, adolescents, and adults. Interview responses were coded in categories of content cues, with the coding of content…

Examines the portrayal of intimate sexual behavior on soap operas and concludes that soap operas have more sexual content than do prime-time programs, but the types of intimacies differ. Notes that soap operas are potentially a major force in the transmission of values and sexual information to youthful viewers. (PD)

Assesses the extent and nature of sexual behavior in daytime soap operas. Concludes that soap operas can be assumed to be presenting a distorted picture of sexual behavior in America, particularly in the ratio of married to unmarried sexual behavior. Suggests that steady viewing may influence young viewers' attitudes and values. (PD)

Examples from the data of a study of television programing for adolescents in Sweden illustrate some of the differences in the ways programs address their male and female viewers. Whereas boy and girl characters in television programs are roughly equal in number, the distribution changes when only leading roles are considered. A marked imbalance…

Examines types of adventure show content (violence, conflict, realism, and action) and viewer characteristics which may influence program liking. Findings suggest that the average viewer somewhat dislikes the typical violence portrayed in adventure shows; emotional conflict, however, seems to enhance liking for adventure shows. (PD)

This study was conducted to record and evaluate, through a questionnaire and discussion, a young audience's perception of a quiz type television program with school age children as participants. The question under investigation was how the fundamental principle of a quiz show--in which knowledge is bartered for material gain--could be measured…

This book presents cutting-edge research designed to stimulate and inform the debate over advertising to the children's market and the effects such advertising has on children. Perspectives are organized in sections to address what children know and think about advertising, how advertising works with children, and what issues are at the forefront…

Introduces a theoretical perspective on media viewing choices, grounded in social identity theory. Content analysis demonstrates that child, younger adult, and older adult television viewers show a preference for viewing characters of their own age. The experiment demonstrates that young adults' preference for viewing young adult characters exists…

This paper makes a critical exploration into the core epistemological assumptions of mainstream television effects research and explains why the mainstream study of the cognitive impact of television on children suffers from two reductionist tendencies, i.e., television is understood by most researchers to be solely a technical medium, and most…

Boys are especially active users of media, and researchers have suggested that the cumulative impact of media, such as television, movies, and music videos, may make them some of the most influential forces in boys' lives. This report presents the findings of a national poll of 1,200 young people (ages 10 to 17) and focus groups in which boys…

Sports programming plays a significant role in the media messages that American boys receive today. To explore the messages that sports programming presents to its audience, this report relates the findings of a study that analyzed a representative selection of sports programs and their accompanying commercials; also presented are findings from a…