Mean on the Screen: Social Aggression in Programs Popular With Children

Nicole Martins, Barbara J. Wilson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A content analysis was conducted to examine the portrayal of social aggression in the 50 most popular television programs among 2- to 11-year-old children. Results revealed that 92% of the programs in the sample contained some social aggression. On average, there were 14 different incidents of social aggression per hour in these shows, or one every 4 minutes. Compared to the portrayals of physical aggression, social aggression was more likely to be enacted by an attractive perpetrator, to be featured in a humorous context, and neither rewarded or punished. In these ways, social aggression on television poses more of a risk for imitation and learning than do portrayals of physical aggression. Findings are discussed in terms of social cognitive theory.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)991-1009
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Communication
Volume62
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2012

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language

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