1

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

2

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

3

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

4

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.

5

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.

6

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.

7

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.

8

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.

9

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.

10

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 ? ?

11

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?

12

Research DesignResearch Design

Focus groups segment audience identify need design web site

Written questionnaire pilot test measures

Web pilot test refine site’s effectiveness

13

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

14

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

15

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

16

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?

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.

Are you a...romanticidealist?

An independent thinker?

A shy girl?

A rebel?

A down-home, country-Western gal?

Or a career planner?

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...

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.

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.

22

Results Results

Focus Groups Three readings

Surveys Descriptives Bivariate analysis independent t-tests

Web pilot-test Qualitative data analysis

23

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.

24

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.

25

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

26

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)

27

Psychometric EvaluationPsychometric Evaluation

Concurrent construct validity: Are identity types correlated with:

dating salience? dating expectations? media uses?

28

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).

29

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).

30

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)

31

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)

32

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)

33

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.

34

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.

35

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.

36

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.

37

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

38

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