Addiction: Role of Media

Role of Media in Addiction

A) Media portrayals of addictive behaviour

• These can cause controversy because of claims they glamourise addictive behaviour.
• Gunasekera et al (2005) - surveyed the top 200 grossing films. Found films showed portrayals of drug taking in films were overwhelmingly positive and without negative consequences.
• Social Learning Theory - learning through observation of valued role models being rewarded for their addiction provides explanation for the influence of media on addictive behaviour.
• Film and TV representations of addictive behaviour important as they provide enduring stereotypes of addicts, for other people and for the addict. (Trainspotting is a good example)

Evaluation

• Distefan et al (1999) - found the more likeable film actors/actresses who smoke (both on and off-screen) are positively correlated with their adolescent fans' decision to smoke. This shows the importance of social learning theory and imitation of valued role models in initiation of addictive behaviour.
  
• Sargent and Hanewinkel (2009) - found the more adolescents are exposed to movies with smoking the more likely they are to smoke. 4384 adolescents aged 11-15 years surveyed twice, a year apart. Researchers found the individuals who had not smoked when they were first surveyed, exposure to smoking in movies was a strong and significant predictor of whether they had begun to smoke when surveyed a year later.
• However, questionnaire study, so social desirability bias is an issue, difficult to determine the extent to which they had been exposed to smoking in moveis.
• Not all…