Finds that women's preferences for comedy television programs were strongest immediately prior to and during menses when negative affect was also most evident. Finds also that at the midpoint of the menstrual cycle, when positive affect proved the strongest, an elevated interest in suspense drama programs was apparent. (SR)

This part of a series of reports in this issue traces the role and "image" of serial television's women. (CH)

A previous study (EM 009 547) found that the most favorable attitudes of boys toward aggression existed when there was high exposure to television (TV) violence, ambiguous family attitudes toward aggression, or low socio-economic status. This study sought to examine the same three variables with respect to girls. Subjects, who were 404 fourth…

Eating disorders are more common among women than men, perhaps because of the present cultural emphasis on thinness for women. Television is one potential communicator of this thin standard of attractiveness. To assess how men and women are presented on television, 139 male characters and 82 female characters from 33 popular television shows were…

Women, blacks, the poor, and the elderly view more television than the population as a whole. Does TV serve the needs and interests of these primary viewers? Professor Comstock doubts it and finds these viewers largely disenfranchised by shallow news programs and entertainment that reinforces accepted norms. (Editor/RK)

Concludes that gender gap is a better predictor than political attitudes of determining who will view a television program and how they will react to it. (FL)

A study examined the differences in perceived credibility of male and female television news broadcasters. News directors' attitudes concerning what makes a newscaster believable were surveyed by telephone. Their descriptions were converted to semantic differential scales. Next, two videotaped newscasts were produced, one with a male and one with…

This part of a series of reports in this issue documents woman's image of powerlessness as seen in dramatic television. (CH)

In order to delineate what kind of image of women has emerged on televsion programs, the author reviewed first-run serialized television crime dramas for the 1976-77 season. He examines the consequences of this stereotyping on the status of women. (Author/RK)

Concludes that clothing worn by anchorwomen appears to influence viewers' perceptions of the credibility and effectiveness of their newscasts. (FL)

This study explored traits that adult television audience members perceived to be linked to positive and negative portrayals of women on television, and whether respondents' gender is linked to perception differences. Contemporary criteria for evaluating positive and negative images were linked to most responses. No significant gender differences…

Presents a study of the effectiveness and believability of male and female newscasters among children and shows that newscaster sex does not effect believability ratings. Girls, however, learned more from a male than from a female newscaster. Newscaster sex did not affect retention of the newscast by boys. (JMF)

Conducts interviews with nine groups of South African women, examining their responses to episodes of "Suburban Bliss," a South African television sitcom that attempted to use humor as a catalyst to transcend the aftermath of apartheid. Evaluates whether "cultural reconciliation" is possible through harnessing the varying…

This study considers the ways in which the television set appeared and figured in representations of domestic space in middle class women's home magazines from 1948 to 1955. The effect of television on the home from the housewife's perspective is described as two-fold: something which called for a careful rearrangement of the home and the…

This study sought to relate the dynamic patterns of older adults to their use of television within the whole range of activity patterns available to them. Central to the study was an intensive interview study of a select sample (32 women and 18 men in a Columbus, Ohio, senior citizen community); this precluded derivative generalizations for the…