Television, Sex-Role Attitudes, and Sex-Role Behavior

Abstract

Amount of television viewing, sex-role attitudes, and sex-role behavior were measured at two points in time in a sample of 287 adolescents. The sex-role measures concern respondents' attitudes about the sex-specific appropriateness of various household chores and their own self-reported tendency to perform those chores. The data show that television viewing makes an independent contribution to adolescents' sex-role attitudes over time, but that television is not related to their actual behavior. The relationship between viewing and attitudes, however, is mediated by behavior, but in different directions for boys and girls. Finally, there is a reciprocal relationship between amount of viewing and the degree of congruence between sex-role attitudes and behavior.