University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Student Work 8-1-1980 A cross-sectional analysis of women's television viewing and its relationship to attitudes toward women and sex-role orientation Rosellen Margaret Rosich University of Nebraska at Omaha Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork Recommended Citation Rosich, Rosellen Margaret, "A cross-sectional analysis of women's television viewing and its relationship to attitudes toward women and sex-role orientation" (1980). Student Work. 1183. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/1183 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Work by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF WOMEN'S TELEVISION VIEWING AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN AND SEX-ROLE ORIENTATION A Thesis Presented to the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts University of Nebraska at Omaha by Rosellen Margaret Rosich August 1980 UMI Number: EP73423 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI' " OlssartaikMi: Publishing UMI EP73423 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 THESIS ACCEPTANCE Accepted for the faculty of the Graduate College, University of i / Nebraska, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts, University of Nebraska at Omaha. Thesis Committee Name Department CJ P - 0 * ChaiW a n ' ~ 3 '9%o Date i i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to express deep appreciation to committee members Dr. Evan Brown, Dr. Carl Greenberg, Dr. James Thomas, and Dr. Mary Williamson for th eir comments and suggestions made in preparation of this thesis. Special thanks goes to thesis advisor Dr. Joseph LaVoie who gave many hours of assistance and encouragement throughout the development of this thesis from its inception to its completion. A very special thank you goes to my father and mother whose never ending love, sup­ port, and confidence made this endeavor possible. To them I dedicate this thesis. i i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgments ................................................................................................. i i i List of Tables ................................................................................................. vi A b s t r a c t ................................. x iii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Children's Television ............................................................................ 2 Violence-Aggression ............................................................................ 2 S e x -R o le s ................................. 2 Adult T e le v is io n ........................................................................................ 5 Violence-Aggression ............................................................................ 6 Personality Variables ................... 7 Sex-Roles ................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2 Method ............................................................................................. 13 Subjects ..................................................................................................... 13 Measures ................................................................................... 14 P ro ced u re ................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 3 Descriptive Statistics for the Dependent and Independent Variables ............................................................... 20 Television Viewing Measures ............................................................... 20 Women's Television Viewing and Attitudes Toward Women's Rights and Roles ................................................... 29 iv Page Attitudes Toward Women and Sex-Role Orientation .............................. 42 Program Content and Ratings on Preference and Realism ................. 55 Additional Analyses ........................................................................................ 81 Chapter 4 D is c u s s io n.............................................................................................................. 92 Chapter 5 Concl u s i o n ...................................................... 101 References .....................................................................................................................105 Appendices Appendix A Television Viewing Survey ........................................................................ 110 Attitudes Toward Women Scale ............................................................... 126 Bern's Sex-Role Inventory ........................................................................ 128 Appendix B Warner, Meeker, & Eel 1 1s Revised Scale for Rating Occupation .................................. 130 Appendix C Tables of Additional Analyses ............................................................... 131 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Frequency, Means, and Standard Deviations for Age Grouping, Marital and Employment Status, Occupation, and Educational Level ...................................... 21 2 Frequency, Means, and Standard Deviations for Hours Available at Home, Reported Hours of TV Viewed, Hours of Programs Normally Viewed, and Ratio of TV V ie w e d ................................................22 3 Means and Standard Deviations for Each Age Group on TV Viewing M easu res ....................................................24 4 Correlations Between Hours Available at Home, Reported Hours of TV Viewed, Hours of Programs Normally Viewed, and Ratio of TV Viewed for Each Age Group ............................................................27 5 Means for Hours Available at Home, Reported Hours of TV Viewed, Hours of Programs Normally Viewed, and Ratio of TV Viewed by Employment Status ............................................................... 30 6 Means for Hours Available at Home and Hours of Programs Normally Viewed by Educational L e v e l ......................................................................................................31 7 Liberalism on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale as a Function of Age Grouping and Hours of Programs Normally Viewed ...................................... 33 8 ANOVA Summary of Attitudes Toward Women as a Function of Age Grouping and Hours of Programs Viewed ............................................................................ 34 9 Liberalism on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale as a Function of Age Grouping and Ratio of T V ......................................................................................... 35 10 ANOVA Summary on Attitudes as a Function of Age Grouping and Ratio of TV . .......................................36 11 Means and Standard Deviations for Attitudes Toward Women Scores as a Function of Age G ro u p in g ....................................................................................... * 37 v i Table Page 12 ANOVA Summary of Attitudes as a Function of Age Grouping ..................................................................................... 37 13 Means and Standard Deviations for Attitudes Toward Women Scores as a Function of Marital Status ............................................................................ 39 14 ANOVA Summary of Attitudes as a Function of Marital Status ............................................................................ 39 15 Means and Standard Deviations for Attitudes ; Toward Women as a Function of Employment S t a t u s ..................................................................................................40 16 ANOVA Summary of Attitudes as a Function of Employment Status ........................................................................ 40 17 Means and Standard Deviations for Attitudes Toward Women as a Function of Educational L e v e l ......................................................................................................41 18 ANOVA Summary of Attitudes as a Function of Educational Level ........................................................................ 41 19 Means and Standard Deviations for Attitudes Toward Women Scores as a Function of Sex- Role Classification ........................................................................ 44 20 ANOVA Summary of Attitudes as a Function of Sex-Role Classification ................................................... 44 21 Means and Standard Deviations for College Students' Attitudes Toward Women Scores as a Function of Sex-Role Classification ..................... 46 22 ANOVA Summary for College Students'Attitudes as a Function of Sex-Role Classification ....................