Girls' Attitudes Toward Violence as Related to TV Exposure , Family Attitudes, and Social Class / Joseph R. Dominick and Bradley S. Greenberg.

A previous study (EM 009 547) found that the most favorable attitudes of boys toward aggression existed when there was high exposure to television (TV) violence, ambiguous family attitudes toward aggression, or low socio-economic status. This study sought to examine the same three variables with respect to girls. Subjects, who were 404 fourth through sixth grade girls, completed questionnaires on TV exposure, family attitudes toward violence, and social class. The questionnaire also included four paper-and-pencil indexes of aggression: willingness to use violence, use of violence in conflict situations, perceived effectiveness of violence, and approval of aggression. The results for all four measures indicate that family attitudes toward aggression showed the most persistent relationship to the child's aggressive attitudes. However, exposure to television violence also made a consistent, independent contribution to the child's notions about violence--the greater the level of exposure, the more the child was willing to use violence, to suggest it as a solution to conflict, and to perceive it as effective. There were no social class differences. Among the limitations of the study were that the data allow only associative, not causative, statements, and that much of the variance in attitudes is not explained by the three variables. (SH)

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