Family context, television and perceived values. A cross-cultural study with adolescents

Abstract

In this study, the general aim was to determine the relationship existing between family context, the values perceived by adolescents in their favorite television characters and the number of hours spent in front of the television set. Participants were 1.238 adolescents aged between 14 and 19 (545 boys and 676 girls) from different Latin American, Spanish and Irish cities. The CH-TV02 and Val-TV02 questionnaires were used. The results reveal that, in general, adolescents tend to perceive collectivist values more than individualistic ones, in relation to both parental mediation and family climate, although Latin American adolescents tend to perceive more conservative values and a greater degree of restriction in relation to their parents. The results are interesting since they lay the groundwork for designing media skills programs specially adapted to the adolescent developmental stage and contextual characteristics.