Display Full Text | Download Full Text
5.82 MB PDF file

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, College of Education and Human Services, 2008.

Abstract

Using a quantitative approach, this study investigates media interaction on relationally aggressive behaviors of middle-school girls by examining television consumption and an individual’s proclivity to engage in relational aggression.

It also investigates whether participation in a workshop explaining relational aggression assisted participants in recognizing the behavior and its consequences on aggressors and victims in the Disney Channel’s Suite Life of Zach & Cody.

Results indicate that the amount of television watched does not correlate with participation in the behavior generally, but that the use of sarcasm to hurt a friend decreases as television viewing increases. Results also indicate that knowledge about the behavior is associated with awareness of occurrences and consequences to the aggressor, but not with consequences to the victim. Together, these results should have implications for regulations regarding television violence and mediation of relational aggression.

Subject Headings

Communication; Education; Mass media; Personal relationships

Keywords

relational aggression; girl bullying; television impact on relational aggression

Committee / Advisors

Joanne E. Goodell, PhD (Advisor)
Catherine Ross-Stroud, PhD (Committee Member)
Graham Stead, PhD (Committee Member)
Kim Mason, PhD (Committee Member)
Cheryl Bracken, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

144p.

Document number: csu1230825303
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1230825303

This ETD has been downloaded 1963 times (through March 2013)