[...]... tendencies THE EVOLUTION OF ADOLESCENT PORTRAYAL IN THE MEDIA Despite the increased study of media influence on adolescent development, there has been no systematic study of change in portrayal of adolescents or the behaviors that might influence their socialization since the advent of the new age of affluence Because the media have undoubtedly played a role in socializing adolescents, it is of great interest... health risks While helping to promote the behaviors that encouraged overeating, the media were simultaneously featuring increasingly thin women on television 18 changing portr ayal of adolescents in the media shows and films (see Chapter 6) An intriguing study of the introduction of television to the Fiji Islands in the late 1990s found an increase in disordered eating and dieting among adolescent girls... considered in the context of the new culture of consumption MEDIA INFLUENCE IN THE NEW CULTURE OF CONSUMPTION With the ever-increasing ethos of immediate gratification in the media, it was not surprising that the cohort of youth growing up in the postwar period would absorb these media messages Because adolescents are more impulsive than adults and willing to experiment with new behaviors, they are vulnerable... enjoy the fruits of the new prosperity, they were simultaneously adopting the characteristics of typical adolescents, in what Osgerby (Chapter 1) has termed youthful hedonism As we find in our review of media influences, most of the harmful effects of the media involve the adoption of impulsive behavior patterns that maximize short-term reward at the expense of long-term gain The media s evolving role... rulings by the Supreme Court helped to end the power of the Code (F Miller, 1994) One ruling in 1952 overturned earlier decisions that upheld the use of the Code and extended First Amendment protection to the film industry In addition, an antitrust ruling by the Court 8 changing portr ayal of adolescents in the media in 1948 made it difficult for the industry to control the distribution of films to theaters—especially... The increasing enrollment of youth in high schools had been a trend since the beginning of the century However, starting in the 1950s, more than half of adolescents completed high school and everincreasing percentages of young people also attended college, a trend that extended the period of dependency and delay of adult responsibility further into the third decade of life This extension also increased... example of such influence is in the realm of food consumption At the dawn of the new era of affluence, Americans devoted about a quarter of their income to food However, expenditures for food continuously declined as a proportion of the family budget, reflecting the everincreasing ability to purchase discretionary items As part of this trend, the proportion of the food budget devoted to eating outside the. .. ask in this volume is how portrayals of adolescents and the behaviors that might influence their socialization have changed over this period We then ask whether media portrayals pose socialization risks for the future and what enlightened policy alternatives present themselves regarding media influence in the continuing era of media- saturated socialization Controlling the media s socialization of children... has evolved since the 1950s Indeed, it was evident to us that the ability of adolescents to learn about themselves in the media has increased greatly since 1950 In the beginning of television, there were only three channels (NBC and CBS, followed by ABC) with very limited opportunities to show anything with adolescent content However, by the early 1980s, a new network (Fox) appeared on the scene with... supporting violence 12 changing portr ayal of adolescents in the media to achieve their ends Such prompts would not need to depict novel forms of behavior; they would only need to remind media consumers about ways of behaving they have learned in the past The most prevalent of these influences would be efforts to spur consumers to buy products Indeed, a good deal of advertising simply reminds viewers to use . y0 w0 h1" alt="" The Changing Portrayal of Adolescents in the Media Since 1950 This page intentionally left blank The Changing Portrayal of Adolescents in the Media Since 1950 Edited by Patrick. Professor Department of Psychology University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI xiv contributors The Changing Portrayal of Adolescents in the Media Since 1950 This page intentionally left blank Introduction Mass. examines the policy conundrums raised by the findings. In Chapter 9, Timothy Dewhirst exam- ines another difficult problem, the advertising and portrayal of tobacco use in the media. He examines