The social character of parental and adolescent television viewing: An event history analysis

Henk Westerik; Karsten Renckstorf; Jan Lammers; Fred Wester

doi:10.1515/COMMUN.2007.030

Article

The social character of parental and adolescent television viewing: An event history analysis

Henk Westerik , Karsten Renckstorf , Jan Lammers and Fred Wester

Published/Copyright: December 4, 2007

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Submit Manuscript Author Information Explore this Subject

From the journal Volume 32 Issue 4

Abstract

The amount of time that people spend on watching television is a matter of social concern. In the past, several approaches have been developed explaining why people expose themselves to television, most notably the Uses and Gratifications approach. Building on an action theoretical framework, it is argued that the influence of routinization and situational context of television viewing (including the role played by others) should receive more attention. This approach is then applied to media use in households, with an emphasis on how adolescents and parents influence each other's television viewing. Event history on data from 55 Dutch households (including 86 adolescents and their parents) show that the influence of parents and their adolescent children is reciprocal, that is, not only do parents influence their children, but children also influence their parents. This influence does, however, not increase during the teenage years, nor does parental influence diminish during those years.

Keywords: television viewing; uses and gratifications; everyday life; socialization; (reverse) socialization; event history analysis; action theoretical perspective

Published Online: 2007-12-04

Published in Print: 2007-11-20

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/COMMUN.2007.030

Keywords for this article

television viewing; uses and gratifications; everyday life; socialization; (reverse) socialization; event history analysis; action theoretical perspective