1 how do teenage girls use media to shape ideas about love & romance? u a study of teenaged...
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How Do Teenage Girls Use Media to Shape Ideas about Love & Romance?
A Study of Teenaged Girls’ Romantic Identities
Sarah N. Keller
School of Journalism & Mass Communication
UNC-Chapel Hill
March 2000
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IntroductionIntroduction If we can better understand what role the
media play in how girls think about love and romance, we will be better able to develop sexual health messages.
Media Romantic
beliefsSexual risks
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Specific AimsSpecific Aims Assess need:
how do young girls use media to shape attitudes and beliefs about romance?
Plan strategy: develop & test audience segmentation
strategy based on romantic beliefs Design message:
what’s media environment? pilot an educational web site
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Sexual Risk for Teen GirlsSexual Risk for Teen Girls Girls twice as likely as boys to get common STDs Girls ages 15-19 highest gonorrhea rates in U.S. Asymptomatic infections harder to diagnose Long-term complications more serious Young women have special risk:
thinner cervical mucus multiple partners
Less negotiating power in relationships
CDC. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report 1994; 5:1-36. Germain A, Wasserheit J, eds. Reproductive Tract Infections: Global Impact and Priorities for Women’s Reproductive Health. New York: Plenum Press, 1992.
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Sexual Media ContentSexual Media Content Media scripts convey frequent messages about
love & sex, but few mention risks and responsibilities.
Prime-time TV: 1 in 10 scenes mention risks, protection or consequences
Internet: 2.2 million sites on “sex education” (most are pornographic)
Advocates for Youth. Talking with TV. Washington: Advocates for Youth, 1996.Dale K, et al. Sexual Messages on Family Hour TV: Content and Context. Santa Barbara: Children Now, Kaiser Family Foundation, 1996. Huston, Wartella & Donnsertein, 1998.
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Dominant Sexual Scripts
Traditional script (in Seventeen Magazine) precludes:
sex outside marriage female desire & pleasure
promotes: heterosexual orientation intercourse (over other sexual acts)
Carpenter, L. (1998). From girls to women: Scripts for sexuality and romance in Seventeen Magazine, 1974-1994. The Journal of Sex Research, 35, 2, 158-169.
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Dominant Romantic Scripts Recreational orientation to sex (on
prime-time TV): cheating; scoring stealing partners fighting over dates
Relational orientation to sex: emphasis on love & happiness
Ward, L.M. (1995). Talking about sex: Common themes about sexuality in the prime-time television programs children and adolescents view most. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 24(5), 595-616.
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Media EffectsMedia Effects Girls who accept dominant romantic
script(s) may be vulnerable to greater sexual risks: Focus group research shows that girls who
idealize romance are least likely to plan out sexual encounters and use contraception.
Longitudinal study finds girls who subscribe to traditional female stereotypes initiate sexual intercourse earlier.
Thompson, 1995; Foshee & Bauman, 1992.
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Reactions to Romantic Reactions to Romantic Content VaryContent Vary
Not all girls get the same messages.
Adolescents seem to cluster into distinct categories of romantic or sexual beliefs.
These categories may be correlated with specific patterns of media use.
Thompson, 1995; Pipher, 1994; Brown, White and Nikopoulou, 1993; Buzwell & Rosenthal, 1996.
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Can Adolescent Girls Be Segmented by Identity?Can Adolescent Girls Be Segmented by Identity?
Categories of girls’ relationship behavior(Thompson, 1995)
Romantic idealists Hell-raisers Sporting Girls Players Fast-track career girls Mothers
How girls use sexual media (Steele & Brown, 1995)
Disinterested Intrigued/Conformers Resisters ? ?
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Research QuestionsResearch Questions
R1. Can a coherent set of Romantic Identities be distinguished among early adolescent girls?
R2. What role do media play in development of young girls’ Romantic Identities?
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Research DesignResearch Design
Focus groups segment audience identify need design web site
Written questionnaire pilot test measures
Web pilot test refine site’s effectiveness
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SampleSample Number:
Focus groups (n = 7 groups x 2-12 = 46) Survey (n = 128) Web pilot-test (n = 26)
Age: 11-15 Gender: Female Subgroup: Upper middle-class, middle-class and low-
income, white & African-American. Location: Teen programs & schools in North Carolina & New
York
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Focus GroupsFocus Groups
Focus group questions: what romantic/sexual messages do you get
from the media? how do you think about love and romance? what messages would you prefer to see?
Media exercises select images from magazines view and discuss prime-time TV clips
Assessing need, defining the audience & designing the message
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Survey Survey Written questionnaire
Romantic Identity Typology - asks respondents to rate how much they are “like”
or “not like” each of 6 romantic identity types Dating expectations -
asks respondents to rate how important they perceive each of 6 qualities of dating to be
Open-ended media questions External validity checked in individual interviews
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Web Pilot TestWeb Pilot Test Students convened in computer labs Each given PC and web site Navigated individually for 10-15 minutes Group debriefing on:
usefulness, like/dislike, and suggestions did they relate to any Romantic Identity Types? if so, which ones did they pick and why?
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Hi girls!!!!
What's up?
Have you ever thought about what your romantic identity is.....?
Well, enter this page and you'll get some answers.
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Are you a...romanticidealist?
An independent thinker?
A shy girl?
A rebel?
A down-home, country-Western gal?
Or a career planner?
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I get sad when I listen to songs about heart-break. I'm happy when I hear
songs about true love.
Sometimes I feel both emotions at once, like with "Angels in Disguise," by Brandy. It's such a pretty song.
Everyone should hear it. More about me...
I'm sort of a romantic idealist...
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I don’t think everyone should try too hard to find love. It’ll just happen.
We talked with some other girls our age and came up with some ideas about how media messages
could be improved.
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Well, after thinking about the whole love issue some more, we decided that:
Media should give us information about other stuff, like conservation and killing of the whales.
There should be a news show by teenagers, instead of Dan Rather.
Everyone wants to find a match, but you shouldn’t think about love all the time.
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Results Results
Focus Groups Three readings
Surveys Descriptives Bivariate analysis independent t-tests
Web pilot-test Qualitative data analysis
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Focus Group ResultsFocus Group Results Identity types & media preferences: Girls chose
magazine images that related to their self-assigned Romantic Identity categories
“I chose this image because she’s kind of weird-looking and strange. Because she’s out there, kind of weird looking, like me.” - 13-year-old Raleigh girl, rated as Independent Thinker
“I picked this girl, cuz she looks kind of mad, like something just
got on her nerves, and I’m having a bad day today, so I can relate to her.” - A self-described Hell-raiser from Raleigh, age 11.
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Focus Group Results (cont’d)Focus Group Results (cont’d) Romantic media content: Girls agreed that TV and
magazines idealize romantic relationships, but disagreed about whether that should be different. “Life is about relationships. Sex is part of relationships. What else
would the show [Dawson’s Creek] be about?” - Romantic Idealist. “Except you never see family relationships on TV,” - Shy Girl. “It might make you more depressed cuz you realize that you
don’t have it. Family. Cuz you didn’t have a good family situation, or not many friends,” - Independent Thinker.
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Frequencies of Romantic Frequencies of Romantic Identity Types (n=128)Identity Types (n=128)
Percentage of girls ages 11-15 who rated themselves “just like” each type, on a scale from 1-4.
05
10
1520
25
30
Rom
antic
Idea
list
Car
eer G
irl
Play
er
Spor
ting
Girl
Mot
her
Frequency
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Psychometric EvaluationPsychometric Evaluation Internal reliability:
Are Romantic Identity Types correlated with each other?
Most categories appear distinct: Sporting Girl negatively correlated with Romantic
Idealists (r = -.362, p = .000). Some categories overlap:
Mothers & Players positively correlated with each other (r = .256, p = .006)
Sporting Girls & Fast-track Career Girls (r = .355, p = .000)
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Psychometric EvaluationPsychometric Evaluation
Concurrent construct validity: Are identity types correlated with:
dating salience? dating expectations? media uses?
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Identity Types & DatingIdentity Types & Dating
Dating salience: Dating salience was correlated with high
score on Romantic Idealist & Player questions
Romantic Idealists and Players said dating was VERY important (r =.391, p =.000; r = .402, p = .000).
Sporting & Career Girls said dating was NOT important (r = -.490, p = .000; r =
-.235, p = .002).
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Identity Types & DatingIdentity Types & Dating Dating expectations:
Dimensions were correlated with Romantic Identity Types as expected
Sporting Girls said friendship was important (r = .247, p = .023), but NOT romance and passion (r = -.234, - .232, p = .003).
Romantic Idealists and Players chose passion and romance as important (r = .210, r = .320; r = .245, r = .392, p = .000).
Love was rated highly by Players (r = .251), but less highly by Romantic Idealists (r =.134).
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Media Use & Romantic BeliefsMedia Use & Romantic Beliefs Girls who watched more TV tended
to rate involvement in dating relationships as more important
TV hours and dating salience were positively correlated (r = .195, p = .02)
Saturday TV watching and dating salience were even more related
(r = .427, p < .01)
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Media Use & Romantic Media Use & Romantic Identity Identity
Web: Sporting Girls
music uses of web (e.g., www.mtv.com) Players & Romantic Idealists
chat rooms (Teen Chat or Black Voices Teen)
Fast-track Career Girls “other” uses of web (e.g.,
www.yahoo.com, www.abc.com)
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MediaGenre
RomanticIdealist(n=37)
Mother
(n=16)
Player
(n=27)
SportingGirl(n=17)
CareerGirl(n=27)
TV Talk show Prime-time &Talk show
Talk show Prime-time
Prime-time
Magazine Teen Teen Teen Teen Teen
Music Rap Rap Rap Male pop Rap
Web Chat Chat Chat Music Other
Romantic Identity Types Media Preferences (n=128)
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Web Pilot ResultsWeb Pilot Results
Identity types resonated with web users: “I like the Rebel page and the Romantic Idealist
page. I like the Rebel, because it says you don’t always have to like what everyone else likes. You don’t have to agree with everyone else’s opinions. I liked the Romantic Idealist because it reminds me of myself.” - African-American girl, 13, East Harlem Secondary School
Identity choices shown to be transient - Girls often identified with more than one category.
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DiscussionDiscussion R1: Is it possible to distinguish Romantic
Identities among young teen girls using this Typology? Yes. Respondents from diverse backgrounds
grouped into each category (except Hell-raisers).
Variations for race & age not significant - except for Sporting Girls.
Overlap may indicate the types represent dimensions rather than complete selves.
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Discussion Discussion R2: Do teen girls use media to shape
ideas about romance, love & relationships? Yes, but exactly how is not yet clear. Identity types had somewhat different
patterns of media use. Early adolescent girls agreed media place
a heavy emphasis on love and romance. Heavy TV viewers tended to place more
importance on dating.
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DiscussionDiscussion
Web pilot test comments indicate that Romantic Identity Typology may be a useful audience segmentation strategy for delivering health communication messages to female adolescents.
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Future ResearchFuture Research Evaluate a revised version of web site for impact
on sexual beliefs and attitudes use experimental design use online questionnaire to measure baseline &
post-test variables Incorporate web site into media literacy
curriculum and evaluate for impact use dependent variables derived from focus group
data - relationship salience, romantic self-esteem and media critical awareness
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Future ResearchFuture Research
Test audience segmentation strategy - i.e., the Romantic Identity Typology with representative sample of teen
Internet users with an educational web intervention
that is evaluated for impact