Political Implications of Prime-Time Drama and Sitcom Use: Genres of Representation and Opinions Concerning Women's Rights |
| |
| Authors: | R Lance Holbert Dhavan V Shah Nojin Kwak |
| |
| Affiliation: | R. Lance Holbert (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, University of Missouri-Columbia.;Dhavan V. Shah (PhD, University of Minnesota) is an associate professor in the School of Journalism &Mass Communication and Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison.;Nojin Kwak (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. |
| |
| Abstract: | Scholars studying the content of televised entertainment programming have long argued for a relationship between exposure to sexist media representations of women and opinions concerning women's status in society, yet research has rarely examined prime-time television audiences and their sociopolitical opinions concerning women's rights. To explore these relationships, we engaged in a secondary analysis of the 1997, 1998, and 1999 DDB Life Style Studies. Using hierarchical regression, we found three forms of entertainment television use (traditional drama, progressive drama, and situation comedy) that retain statistically significant, unique relationships with opinions concerning women's rights, even after accounting for variables thought to shape patterns of media use and influence support for women's rights. Further, regression path analysis revealed that these three forms also mediate relationships between various demographic, situational, and orientational variables and the criterion variable. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
