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CHARACTER PORTRAYALS on Prlmetime TELEVISION: A

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CHARACTER PORTRAYALS on Prlmetime TELEVISION: A CHARACTER PORTRAYALS ON PRlMETIME TELEVISION: A CONTENT ANALYSIS by Susan G. Kahlenberg A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication Fall 1995 Q 1995 Susan G. Kahlenberg All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my special appreciation to my advisor, Professor Nancy Signorielli. Her expertise, assistance, and patience enabled me to complete my master's thesis. Moreover, her encouragement and support helped motivate me to pursue a graduate degree. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to my other committee members: Professor Douglas McLeod and Professor Elizabeth Perse. Their assistance and enthusiasm, particularly with the data analysis, helped me more than they will ever realize. I am especially grateful to all my friends and family, who supported me throughout this project, particularly to Jeanie Zmijewski and Sandra Berges Murray for their help coding; to Scott Caplan and Melinda Johnson for their insight and for listening; and to David and Jill Kahlenberg for sharing their computer knowledge and for giving great advice and pep-talks. In adltion, I would like to thank Wayne McWilliams, who shared both sad and happy days with me and has inspired me to believe in myself. His love and encouragement has greatly helped shape this thesis. Finally, this master's thesis 1s deQcated with love to my parents, who ... 111 iv mean so much to me. Through their unconditional love and support they have inspired me to put my dreams into reality. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION .................................... 1 Gender-role Stereotypes ................................ 1 Television: Socialization Agent ........................... 2 Concerns of the Women's Movements ...................... 3 Stereotypes on Television ............................... 4 Occupational Stereotyping ......................... 7 Marital and Occupational Stereotyping ................ 8 Power. Dominance. and Authority Stereotyping .......... 9 Importance of Study ................................. 10 Purpose .......................................... 11 TEIEORE'IICAL PERSPECIWE AND LWJilUTURE REVIEW . 12 Cultivation Theory .................................. 12 The Cultural Indicators Project ..................... 15 Literature Review ................................... 17 Gender ...................................... 17 Under-representation of Women ............... 18 Character Status .......................... 19 Rogram Genre ........................... 20 Race .... Frequency of Mmority Characters ............. 22 Character Status .......................... 25 Program Genres .......................... 26 Gender and Age ............................... 27 Race and Age ........................... 29 The Nature of Roles ............................. 30 Occupational Roles ............................. 31 Indeterminate Occupational Roles .............. 32 Representation of Occupational Positions .........33 Representation of Men and Women in Occupational Positions ..................... 33 Marital Roles ................................. 36 Determining Marital Status .................. 37 Married vs . not Married .................... 37 Marital Status and Race .................... 39 Marital Status and Occupation ................ 39 Power. Dominance. and Authority .................. 42 The Television Industry .......................... 45 Innovative Research On Marriage ........................ 48 Marital Success ................................ 48 Amount of Affective and Problem Solving Communication .......................... 52 Sexual Relations with Spouse ................ 52 Religious and Political Beliefs of Spouse ........ 52 Type and Amount of Recreational Time Spent with Spouse ............................. 53 Personality of Spouse ...................... 53 Length of Marriage ........................ 53 Number of Children ....................... 54 Number of Ch~ldrenLiving Inside the Home ...... 54 vii Marital Success and Employment ................... 55 Economic Necessity or Choice ................ 56 Husbands' Attitude ........................ 56 Stages in the Life Cycle .................... 56 Part-time vs . Full-time ..................... 57 Education .............................. 58 Income and Social Class .................... 59 Work Commitment ........................ 59 Role Load .............................. 60 Conclusion ................................... 60 Marital Typology .............................. 62 Research Questions and Hypotheses ...................... 65 Gender ...................................... 65 Race ....................................... 66 Age ........................................ 67 Occupational Roles ............................. 68 Marital Roles ................................. 69 Marriage and Occupation ......................... 70 Power. Dominance. and Authority .................. 71 Marital Success ................................ 72 Marital Typology .............................. 74 Television Industry ............................. 75 METHODS ....................................... 76 Sample ........................................... 76 Units of Analyses ................................... 77 Program ..................................... 77 Writer ................................. 77 Producer ............................... 77 Director ................................ 77 Character .................................... 77 Gender ................................ 78 Race .................................. 78 Chronological Age ........................ 78 Social Age .............................. 79 Occupation ............................. 79 Marital Status ............................ 79 Dominance ............................. 80 Authority ............................... 81 Marital Success .......................... 82 Dimensions of Marital Success .................82 Social Class ............................. 83 Income .................................84 Education .............................. 84 Stage in the Life Cycle ..................... 84 Number of Children Living at Home ........... 84 Number of Children ....................... 84 Number of Years Married to Present Spouse ...... 84 Type of Employment ...................... 85 Non-married Female Character is Working in Paid Employment ............................. 85 Married Female Character is Working in Paid Employment ............................. 85 Marital Typology ......................... 85 Traditional Maniage Orientation .............. 86 Traditional Orientation ..................... 86 Pre-test ..................................... 87 Coders Training ............................... 87 Reliability Analysis ............................. 87 Data Analysis ................................. 93 4 RESULTS ........................................ 94 Descriptive Findings ................................. 94 Overview of the Sample ......................... 94 Overview of the Characters ....................... 94 Major and Supporting Characters .............. 95 Minor Characters ......................... 95 Overview of Characters in Relation to Programs ........ 96 Minor Characters ......................... 96 Hypotheses and Research Questions ...................... 97 Gender ...................................... 97 Race ...................................... 102 Age ....................................... 109 Occupational Roles ................1 ........... 123 MaritalRoles ................................ 131 Magiage and Occupation ................... 141 Power. Dominance. and Authority ................. 144 Dominance and Authority: with whom ......... 146 Marital Success ............................... 152 Research Question Three ................... 153 Research Question Four ................... 155 Marital Typology ............................. 155 Relationship Between Marital Type and Marital Success ............................... 156 Traditional Images ............................ 157 Television Industry ............................ 159 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION ....................... 167 Summary ........................................ 167 Descriptive Mormation .............................. 168 Discussion of Research Questions and Hypotheses ........... 170 Gender ..................................... 170 Race ...................................... 171 Age ....................................... 173 Occupational Roles ............................ 175 Marital Roles ................................ 178 Marriage and Occupation ................... 180 Power. Dominance. and Authority ................. 181 Marital Success ............................... 183 Marital Typology ............................. 185 Traditional Images ............................ 187 Television Industry ............................ 187 Limitations of the Research ................................ 188 Directions for Future Research .............................. 190 Conclusion .................................. 193 APPENDIX A: RECORDING INSTRUMENT FOR CHARACTERS . 197 APPENDIX B: OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORIES ................206 REFERENCES: ..........................................209 LIST OF TABLES 3.1 Krippendorff's Alpha for minor character variables ............. 89 3.2 Krippendorfl's Alpha for major and supporting character variables . 90 4.1 Frequency of males and females on television and in the U.S. population ........................................
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