TY - JOUR
T1 - Mediated risks through rose-tinted glasses?
T2 - Exploring barriers and boosters to critical deconstructions of mediated risk behavior by Dutch adolescents
AU - Sadza, Anne
AU - Daalmans, Serena
AU - Rozendaal, Esther
AU - Buijzen, Moniek
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s).
PY - 2024/10
Y1 - 2024/10
N2 - Given the potential for media portrayals to affect adolescents' cognitions regarding risk behaviors and the importance of message interpretation processes, this study investigates how adolescents give meaning to media portrayals of risk behavior (e.g., alcohol, smoking, drugs, sex, and reckless behavior) and which factors play a role within this process through 7 focus groups followed by 50 individual interviews with adolescents. Findings indicate adolescents are far from passive consumers of media portrayals of risk behavior. Participants expressed awareness of the ubiquity and symbolism with which risk behaviors are portrayed in popular media and were mostly adept at deconstructing the images portrayed. However, this did not always translate to critical responses. An interplay of real-life experiences and message characteristics informed judgments about media portrayals of risk behavior. Contributing factors to critical and media-literate deconstructions are distilled in the form of barriers and boosters, and suggestions for media literacy interventions are formulated.
AB - Given the potential for media portrayals to affect adolescents' cognitions regarding risk behaviors and the importance of message interpretation processes, this study investigates how adolescents give meaning to media portrayals of risk behavior (e.g., alcohol, smoking, drugs, sex, and reckless behavior) and which factors play a role within this process through 7 focus groups followed by 50 individual interviews with adolescents. Findings indicate adolescents are far from passive consumers of media portrayals of risk behavior. Participants expressed awareness of the ubiquity and symbolism with which risk behaviors are portrayed in popular media and were mostly adept at deconstructing the images portrayed. However, this did not always translate to critical responses. An interplay of real-life experiences and message characteristics informed judgments about media portrayals of risk behavior. Contributing factors to critical and media-literate deconstructions are distilled in the form of barriers and boosters, and suggestions for media literacy interventions are formulated.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85207771318&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/joc/jqae025
DO - 10.1093/joc/jqae025
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85207771318
SN - 0021-9916
VL - 74
SP - 374
EP - 386
JO - Journal of Communication
JF - Journal of Communication
IS - 5
ER -