{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/21607"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/21607","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Children, television, and families: A content analysis of prime-time family programs and an examination of the influence of children's family structure on their perceptions of TV and real families","abstract":"In a project examining the relationship between portrayals of families on prime time television and children's perceptions of families in real-life and on television, three studies were conducted. The project was guided by social constructivist theory, which proposes that children's interpretations of television are influenced by their cognitive development, their prior experiences, and the media content. Studies of both content and audience interpretation were conducted.","abstract_html":"In a project examining the relationship between portrayals of families on prime time television and children's perceptions of families in real-life and on television, three studies were conducted. The project was guided by social constructivist theory, which proposes that children's interpretations of television are influenced by their cognitive development, their prior experiences, and the media content. Studies of both content and audience interpretation were conducted.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Heintz, Katharine Elizabeth"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Communications","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Wartella, Ellen"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-05-07T13:13:43Z","date_published":"2011-05-07T13:13:43Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:18Z","subjects":["Sociology, Individual and Family Studies","Mass Communications"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Copyright 1992 Heintz, Katharine Elizabeth"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9236481","(UMI)AAI9236481"],"render_values":[{"text":"AAI9236481","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"(UMI)AAI9236481","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21607","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Wartella, Ellen"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Heintz, Katharine Elizabeth"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-05-07T13:13:43Z","10000-01-01","1992"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Communications"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Sociology, Individual and Family Studies","Mass Communications"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 1992 Heintz, Katharine Elizabeth"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9236481","(UMI)AAI9236481","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21607"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["In a project examining the relationship between portrayals of families on prime time television and children's perceptions of families in real-life and on television, three studies were conducted. The project was guided by social constructivist theory, which proposes that children's interpretations of television are influenced by their cognitive development, their prior experiences, and the media content. Studies of both content and audience interpretation were conducted.","First, an historical analysis of the portrayals of single-parent families on prime time indicated that, consistent with examinations of other populations on television, White, middle class, male professionals are overrepresented as single parents and nonwhite, working class, females are underrepresented.","Second, an analysis of family interactions on children's favorite family programs revealed that family interactions are overwhelmingly affiliative. A comparison with an earlier study indicates, however, that family interactions on the sample programs are twice as likely to be conflictual than previously, although conflict remains primarily within the spousal dyad or in pairs including a brother.","Third, 381 Chicago elementary school children were surveyed in the Spring of 1990. This information was supplemented by data collected in a survey of single parents and in-home observations of single-parent families.","\"The data were analyzed to see if television's portrayals of families influenced children's perceptions of real families, or if children's family structure influenced their perceptions of television families. The data indicate that children's family situation does influence their impressions of families, with children from single-parent families offering more negative descriptions of both real and TV fathers. Although it is argued that fathers on TV are often portrayed negatively, the traits for which the two groups differed significantly on frequency of selection were not those that are characteristic of TV fathers (\"\"mean,\"\" and \"\"has a bad temper\"\").\"","Children from two-parent families reported more use of TV for learning about families, although the difference was not statistically significant. It was suggested that these children may find TV families more relevant to their immediate living situation, and thus, seek learning gratifications from TV. There was no difference between groups on measures of perceived reality of TV.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:13:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9236481.pdf: 11349985 bytes, checksum: 8a5af5f4c56db39a4c25e48bb8b94c9b (MD5) Previous issue date: 1992","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:51:59Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:23:53-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Children, television, and families: A content analysis of prime-time family programs and an examination of the influence of children's family structure on their perceptions of TV and real families"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Wartella, Ellen"],"dc:creator":["Heintz, Katharine Elizabeth"],"dc:date":["2011-05-07T13:13:43Z","10000-01-01","1992"],"dc:description":["In a project examining the relationship between portrayals of families on prime time television and children's perceptions of families in real-life and on television, three studies were conducted. The project was guided by social constructivist theory, which proposes that children's interpretations of television are influenced by their cognitive development, their prior experiences, and the media content. Studies of both content and audience interpretation were conducted.","First, an historical analysis of the portrayals of single-parent families on prime time indicated that, consistent with examinations of other populations on television, White, middle class, male professionals are overrepresented as single parents and nonwhite, working class, females are underrepresented.","Second, an analysis of family interactions on children's favorite family programs revealed that family interactions are overwhelmingly affiliative. A comparison with an earlier study indicates, however, that family interactions on the sample programs are twice as likely to be conflictual than previously, although conflict remains primarily within the spousal dyad or in pairs including a brother.","Third, 381 Chicago elementary school children were surveyed in the Spring of 1990. This information was supplemented by data collected in a survey of single parents and in-home observations of single-parent families.","\"The data were analyzed to see if television's portrayals of families influenced children's perceptions of real families, or if children's family structure influenced their perceptions of television families. The data indicate that children's family situation does influence their impressions of families, with children from single-parent families offering more negative descriptions of both real and TV fathers. Although it is argued that fathers on TV are often portrayed negatively, the traits for which the two groups differed significantly on frequency of selection were not those that are characteristic of TV fathers (\"\"mean,\"\" and \"\"has a bad temper\"\").\"","Children from two-parent families reported more use of TV for learning about families, although the difference was not statistically significant. It was suggested that these children may find TV families more relevant to their immediate living situation, and thus, seek learning gratifications from TV. There was no difference between groups on measures of perceived reality of TV.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:13:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9236481.pdf: 11349985 bytes, checksum: 8a5af5f4c56db39a4c25e48bb8b94c9b (MD5) Previous issue date: 1992","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:51:59Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:23:53-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"],"dc:identifier":["AAI9236481","(UMI)AAI9236481","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21607"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 1992 Heintz, Katharine Elizabeth"],"dc:subject":["Sociology, Individual and Family Studies","Mass Communications"],"dc:title":["Children, television, and families: A content analysis of prime-time family programs and an examination of the influence of children's family structure on their perceptions of TV and real families"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Communications"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:18Z"}