DILLONM SELFHELP 93 MAG Coverage of Self-Help Groups 1982-1992
Magazine Coverage of Self-Help Groups from July 1982 to July 1992:
A Content Analysis
by
Margaret M. Dillon
Ohio University
E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
Athens, OH 45701
ABSTRACT
The self-help movement, and the 12-step model of recovery
that arose from it, became a booming social trend in the last decade.
During that time, millions of Americans flocked to self-help groups to
discuss problems ranging from addiction to joblessness. The number of
support groups during the 1980s reportedly climbed to 500,000, with
some 15 million Americans attending during any given week. As the
movement expanded it received extensive media coverage. This content
analysis sought to determine whether magazine coverage of the
self-help movement was positive from 1982 until the late 1980s and
then became more negative through the early 1990s. In a random
sampling of 44 magazine articles published between July 1982 and July
1992, each sentence was coded as being favorable, unfavorable or
neutral in tone. The content analysis supported the hypothesis; in
the early and mid 1980s, 64% of the sentences were favorable, but from
1988 to 1992, only 46% were positive.
FULL TEXT OF PAPER
When a person is feeling angry, helpless, depressed or
otherwise upset, he or she has a number of options for dealing with
those emotions: prayer, talking to one's friends or family, reaching
out to members of one's community, asking for professional assistance,
or seeking self-help.{1} In recent years, particularly during the
1980s, this latter category experienced a tremendous surge in
popularity as a way of coping with one's problems. Self-help became
so popular that by 1990, some 15 million Americans were attending
approximately 500,000 self-help support groups during any given
week.{2}
As the self-help/12-step movement expanded and surged in
popularity in the last decade, it was covered extensively in
magazines. It was the author's perception prior to conducting this
study that many of those articles initially spoke favorably of
self-help, but that recent articles were more critical of the
movement.
This content analysis, therefore, sought to
determine trends in the way the self-help movement was covered by
magazines over the last 10 years. A random sampling of 44 articles
written between July 1982 and July 1992 was analyzed to determine
whether self-help groups were perceived positively, negatively or
neutrally by magazines, and to determine whether that trend became
more positive, negative or neutral over the last 10 years.
This study was considered significant and timely because it
attempted to quantify media coverage of a social movement that affects
millions of Americans. If the study indeed showed that self-help
groups have come under fire from the media, that trend toward negative
coverage could cause participants to question the benefits of a
movement that has become an intimate part of their lives. It is
therefore possible that such coverage could play a significant role
in prompting sweeping sociological changes nationwide.
To understand the self-help movement and why its attendant
support groups became popular in the last 10 years, it is first
necessary to examine its origins. To begin with, the concept of
helping oneself by seeking counsel from others is not new. "Mankind
learned early on that survival of the clan, village or colony depended
on the members working cooperatively to provide food and protection
against common enemies. Throughout the centuries, mutual aid has been
provided by a variety of organizations, such as the guilds of
medieval times, the 'Friendly Societies' that developed out of the
Industrial Revolution in England, the grange movement of rural
America, and churches."{3}
Similarly, the philosophy of self-help _ relying on oneself
instead of others to improve one's life _ is also steeped in
tradition. Back in Victorian times, Samuel Smiles _ Britain's
so-called "prophet of honest toil" _ espoused the philosophy in his
1859 book Self-Help.{4} The self-help philosophy endured into this
century, and gained popular acceptance with the publication of books
such as Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People in
1936 and Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking in
1955.{5}
However, modern-day support groups _ a blending of mutual aid
and selfhelp philosophies that are traditionally defined as "being
composed of members who share a common condition, situation, heritage,
symptom or experience" _ date back to 1935.{6} That year marks the
founding of Alcoholics Anonymous by two heavy drinkers, one a
physician and the other a businessman. The philosophy of Alcoholics
Anonymous, also known as "AA," was that alcoholics could prevent
themselves from drinking if they met frequently with other alcoholics
who were also trying to remain sober.{7} At the heart of the plan was
a "12-step" recovery model with an emphasis on accepting powerlessness
over one's addiction, on the theory that "alcohol and other
`addictions' are biologically rooted, and the biological basis cannot
be overcome and should not be denied."{8}
The 12-step model also espoused the idea of spiritual growth
and turning one's life over to a "higher power" as an antidote to
unhealthy and obsessive efforts to control pain and anxiety.
Furthermore, 12-step proponents claimed that "admitting their
powerlessness over the 'disease' can empower 12-steppers to do
something about themselves. Self-help groups allowed participants to
say, 'Recovery starts now: I am not responsible for being an
alcoholic, but I am responsible for my recovery from alcoholism.'"{9}
Other self-help groups soon developed using the 12-step
model, among them Al-Anon (for families of alcoholics) in the 1940s
and Narcotics Anonymous (for drug users) in the 1950s. However,
self-help groups did not become widespread in American society until
the 1980s. Between 1983 and 1987, about 11 new 12-step groups were
formed each year, compared to roughly 1.5 new groups a year between
1950 and 1983.{10} Even more significantly, the 500,000 support
groups said to exist by 1990 represented a quadrupling over the
previous 10 years.{11} Self-help was seen as an increasingly common
way for people to deal with the stresses of modern living, in their
quest for "some anchor of stability, of connection, of faith . . . (at
a time of) the depersonalization and dehumanization of institutions
and social life."{12}
The range of self-help groups that has evolved is enormous
and varied. A partial list includes Children of Aging Parents,
Depression After Delivery (for sufferers of postpartum depression) and
Wives of Older Men.{13} Categories of selfhelp groups include those
dealing with behavior change (such as Kleptomaniacs Anonymous and
Women Who Love Too Much), specific health conditions (Living With
Cancer and the International Endometriosis Association), traumatic
events (Incest Survivors and Widow-to-Widow), and family and friends
of people with problems (Families of Persons with AIDS and Adult
Children of Alcoholics).{14} While 12-step groups have remained
apolitical, other self-help groups that do work toward social change,
such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Families of the Mentally
Ill, have also sprouted.{15}
Literature Review
A review of other content analyses revealed no previous
studies of how selfhelp groups were perceived by the media. However,
the self-help movement has been the subject of several other content
analysis studies. A 1981 study by Francine Lavoie focused on the
preventative potential of self-help groups by recording the verbal
interactions of three self-help groups and subjecting those
interactions to content analysis.{16} Another study, conducted by
Marilyn Coleman in 1985, analyzed self-help books as part of a review
of popular literature that identified stepfamily strengths.{17}
Also identified were several content analyses which used
sentences as a unit of analysis _ the same unit of analysis to be used
in this study _ and which were conducted to determine the tone and/or
bias of media reports of other issues. A 1991 study by Atwater and
Anokwa analyzed statements that dealt with race relations between
blacks and whites in feature stories in Ebony magazine; those
statements were found to be mostly unbiased and neutral in tone.{18}
In addition, a 1985 study in which sentences were the unit of analysis
was conducted by Dennis T. Lowry, who studied 75 network television
newscasts for possible political bias.{19}
Hypothesis
Self-help groups became popular in the 1980s, at a time in
modern life when family structures were breaking down and when people,
feeling a sense of isolation and powerlessness, were "seeking anchors
of stability, connection and faith, things which they used to get
(from) family, peers, like-minded people."{20} In addition to filling
the gap in traditional support systems, self-help groups also allowed
people to express deep-seated and long-suppressed emotions, provided
safety in numbers, were a cost-free alternative to traditional
therapy, and were attended by people who could empathize with a
person's particular problem.{21}
However timely the movement's growth may have been, though,
its very growth appears to have also planted the seeds for criticism.
Two complaints were that the basic issue of self-help had become
obscured by "an endless supply of tangential issues"{22} and that the
movement tended "to call any bad habit or problematic behavior an
addiction."{23} Wendy Kaminer, a critic of the self-help movement and
author of the book I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional, said in a
magazine interview that many self-help groups strip members of their
personal power by telling them to abdicate responsibility for their
actions. "One of the first things you do in a 12-step program is
surrender your will and submit to a higher power," Kaminer said.{24}
The self-help movement's surge in popularity during the 1980s
appeared to be matched by a surge in media attention. Based on the
author's knowledge of the content of popular magazines in the last
decade, that attention was largely positive until the late 1980s, when
the pendulum began to swing the other way and media criticism of the
movement started to appear more and more.
Therefore, the hypothesis of this study was that magazine
coverage of the selfhelp movement was largely favorable in the early-
to mid-1980s, but became more negative in the late 1980s and early
1990s as the self-help trend leveled _ and possibly declined _ in
popularity.
Methodology
The study was conducted by analyzing 44 articles about the
self-help movement. Articles were found by conducting a CD Search of
the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature for magazine stories about
the movement written between July 1982 and July 1992. The 10-year
time frame encompassed the years when self-help groups appeared to
have multiplied the most, been at their most popular, and then come
under attack from critics.
Articles were located using a key-word search of the phrases
"self-help groups," "self-help movement," and "12-step programs."
The search revealed 59 articles about self-help groups from which it
was determined that 44 articles would be coded. (It was the author's
belief that 44 articles constituted a representative sampling of total
articles about the general self-help movement.) The study excluded
coverage of specific self-help groups, such as those for bereaved
parents or people trying to refrain from drug use, and included only
articles about the self-help movement in general. Specific groups
were excluded because the author believed that they might have
received different coverage from the general movement, and would have
detracted from the intent of this study, which was to focus on the
overall concept of self-help.
Articles were randomly selected by writing all titles found
in the Reader's Guide on separate pieces of paper. All pieces were
placed in a hat and picked one by one until 44 titles were chosen.
Random sampling was assured by replacing each piece of paper in the
hat after it had been picked. A total of 30 magazines were used in
the study (see Appendix A).
For each article, a coding sheet contained the following
information: the number of the article and its title; the tone of the
title (positive, negative or neutral) toward self-help groups; the
type of article (feature, commentary, profile, straight news or book
review); the year the article was published; the name of the magazine
in which the article appeared; the category for which each sentence
was coded; and the tone of each sentence (positive, negative or
neutral).
Each article was coded by using the sentence as the unit of
analysis. For a given article, a sentence was assigned one of five
categories: movement, participants, leaders, books, or other. (See
Appendix B for description of categories under "Operational
Definitions.") If the sentence was determined to belong to one of
those first four categories, it was coded as being positive, negative
or neutral in tone. If the sentence was found to belong to the
"other" category, it was assigned to that category but was not coded
for tone. (The author originally planned to code the "other" category
for tone as well, and set up the coding sheet accordingly. However,
as coding proceeded it was determined that such a distinction was
unnecessary. Therefore, all sentences that fell into the "other"
category were listed as such, but were not labeled by tone.) Each
sentence had a value of one, although that value was split in half if
the sentence contained two topics and/or reflected two different
tones. Once coding was completed, values within each category were
totaled, and categories containing half numbers were rounded up to the
next whole number.
The author of the study coded all articles. Coder reliability
was found to be 80 percent by comparing results of the author's coding
of two articles with coding of those same articles by a professor and
two classmates. This method was a variation of the "equivalent forms"
method of coding in which "equivalent forms of the same test are given
to the same individual under comparable conditions at two different
times."{25} (See Appendix C for an example of the author's coding
sheet and two examples of articles coded for the study.)
Significance of Expected Findings
Any social phenomenon that claims to have 15 million
participants is significant, and the self-help movement is no
exception. If a noticeably negative trend in magazine coverage of the
subject were to be found, it would be worth considering the
implications of a movement that to its critics had fallen short of its
goal of helping people. Such a trend might prompt sociologists to
examine trends in the self-help movement, which in turn would be
helpful in assessing the validity or drawbacks of such a widespread
social phenomenon.
One way in which the self-help movement is reportedly flawed
is in the political passivity it spawns. Writer Elayne Rapping said
that modern-day self-help books and their message "present addiction
as a disease from which one never fully recovers, which only the most
vigilant and permanent adherence to the TwelveStep program . . . can
control."{26} Rapping lamented that 12-step programs don't prompt
people to transform social problems that cause dysfunctional behavior,
saying that for 12-step adherents, "the passivity, the giving up of
one's sense of personal agency, is the antithesis of any belief in the
power of political action."{27}
A second concern about self-help groups -- particularly the
12-step variety -has been that they create an addiction to the group
itself.{28} This concern has been downplayed by proponents of the
movement, one of whom said that "involvement, even dependence, on such
groups need not be addicting, nor perceived negatively. Rather, it
may be seen as a way for individuals to become less isolated, to
increase their connection to others, and to find a positive source for
growth and reinforcement."{29}
Negative criticism of the movement has also raised the
question of whether society is becoming "addicted to addictions. . . .
The notion of personal responsibility for our failings is pass . We
don't talk about shoring up our value system (anymore). We merely
applaud the strength of people who attempt to overcome diseases."{30}
Besides the sociological implications of negative coverage of
the self-help movement, it is important to note how large-scale social
trends are being reported by the press, because many people are made
aware of these trends only through the media. In discussing the
agenda-setting function of the press, mass communication researchers
Shearon A. Lowery and Melvin DeFleur have said that ". . . there is a
constant flow of information from the press to its audience. . . .
That information, selective or distorted as it may be, provides the
most basic source for millions of people about what is taking place in
their society."{31} That theory is reflected further in a statement
made by Bernard Cohen, who in 1963 wrote, "The press may not be
successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it
is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think
about."{32}
Findings
Data analysis supported the hypothesis that magazine coverage
of the selfhelp movement was largely favorable in the early- to
mid-1980s, but became more negative in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In the early and mid 1980s, 64% of the sentences were favorable, but
from 1988 to 1992, only 46% were positive. (x2 = 43.29, df = 2, p <
.001) (See Table 1).
The hypothesis was tested as follows. The study's categories
of statements (movement, participants, leaders and books) and the tone
of each category (positive, negative or neutral) were collapsed to
create three groupings: all positive statements, all negative, and all
neutral. Years of publication used in the study were collapsed into
two time periods _ 1982-87 and 1988-92. A cross-tabulation showed
that indeed, there were more positive statements made about the
self-help movement during the first time period than there were during
the second.
It is worth noting that of the 44 articles coded, only eight
(18.2%) were published between 1983 and 1987, while the vast majority
_ 36, or 81.8% _ were published between 1988 and 1992 (See Appendix
D). This preponderance of stories in the latter half of the study
period could indicate a significant interest on the part of
publications about the self-help movement during that time.
Other information gathered in the study included the tone of
titles, with 20 (45.5%) positive in tone, 11 (25.0%) negative in tone,
and 13 (29.5%) neutral in tone. Of the five types of articles coded,
straight news predominated with 15 (34.1%) of the stories, followed by
13 (29.5%) commentary/analysis pieces, seven (15.9%) feature/anecdotal
stories, five (11.4%) profiles, and four (9.1%) book reviews. Using
Fisher's exact probability test, this is significant at the .05 level.
The hard news category consisted only of straight news, with
the other four categories making up soft news. As indicated in Table
2, hard news titles were positive 90% of the time and negative only
10% of the time. By contrast, soft news stories had a nearly equal
number of positive and negative titles. This suggested to the author
that headlines on straight news stories tended to put a positive slant
on the title, perhaps to attract the reader more easily than might be
the case with a negative title.
Conclusions
This study, which shows a shift from positive to negative
magazine coverage of the self-help movement, could indicate any number
of things. It could signify a growing skepticism on the part of the
magazine industry toward the movement, or perhaps a decline in
popular support for such movements.
Having completed the study, the author believes that many
opportunities remain to conduct more research on the subject of
magazine (or other media) coverage of the self-help movement. One
suggestion is to compare magazine coverage of the self-help movement
with coverage in newspapers. Another would be to compare coverage of
the general movement with coverage of specific types of self-help
groups.
Upon completion of the content analysis, the author remained
firmly convinced that studies of media coverage of the self-help
movement would be invaluable to the fields of journalism and
sociology.
(Note: Appendices C and D, and Tables 1 and 2, are not included on
the AEJMC electronic database. For more information, contact the
author at 614-594-4842.)
APPENDIX A
Magazines included in study are listed below, along with
number of articles coded from each publication:
Adweek's Marketing Week -- 1
American Demographics -- 1
American Health -- 2
Better Homes and Gardens -- 1
Changing Times -- 1
Christian Century -- 1
Essence -- 1
FDA Consumer -- 1
The Futurist -- 2
Good Housekeeping -- 2
Harper's -- 1
Health -- 1
Maclean's -- 1
Mademoiselle -- 1
Ms. -- 1
The Nation -- 2
Newsweek -- 5
New York -- 1
New Yorker -- 1
People Weekly -- 3
Prevention -- 1
Psychology Today -- 1
Publishers Weekly -- 1
Skeptical Inquirer -- 1
Social Policy -- 3
Tikkun -- 1
Time -- 1
U.S. News & World Report -- 2
Utne Reader -- 2
Working Woman -- 1
APPENDIX B
Operational Definitions for Coding Sheet:
*Each sentence was a unit of analysis.
*There were five categories from which to choose for the unit of
analysis:
1. MOVEMENT/PHILOSOPHY/GROUPS: Self-help movement, 12-step
philosophy, etc.
2. PARTICIPANTS/PEOPLE AFFECTED BY THE SELF-HELP MOVEMENT:
Addicts, those recovering from addiction, families of those affected
by or involved in the self-help movement, etc.
3. LEADERS: Those active in lecturing or writing about the
self-help movement, such as John Bradshaw, Melody Beattie, etc.
4. BOOKS/COMMENTATORS/CRITICS/TELEVISION TALK SHOWS:
Publications about the self-help movement, pundits who analyze the
self-help philosophy, etc.
5. OTHER: Topics not associated with the above categories, such
as anecdotal leads, philosophical asides, etc.
*Choose the main topic of the sentence; this may or may not be the
grammatical subject of the sentence.
EXAMPLE: "Peck's friends and co-workers speak of him only in the
warmest terms."
PECK (a leader in the self-help movement) is the main topic, and
was coded LEADER+.
*A sentence containing a semicolon was coded as one sentence.
*When a portion of the article appeared in quotes, each sentence
within the quotes was coded separately.
*If a person was talking about something, the coded unit is the thing
being talked about, not the person doing the talking.
EXAMPLE: "Kaminer says the self-help movement is a bunch of
baloney." Code the self-help movement (here, MOVEMENT-), not Kaminer.
*Sentences may contain two topics to be coded, and each topic may or
may not have a different value. Split the unit of analysis in half if
necessary, and assign each half a different value if necessary.
EXAMPLE: "We were ready for some real basic stuff, and the self-help
movement gave us that." Code PARTICIPANT 1/2+, MOVEMENT 1/2+.
GUIDELINES FOR VALUES IN CODING:{33}
POSITIVE
1.Referred positively to the strength (strong, powerful), morality
(good, honest), or activity (active, energetic) of the individual.
For instance, "Self-help groups are multiplying" was coded MOVEMENT+;
"The book became a best-seller" was coded BOOKS+.
2.Described a pro-active behavior by someone, even if that person has
a negative label attached to them. For instance, "troubled callers"
and "people grappling with dependencies" was coded PARTICIPANT+.
3.Showed an increase in size or quantity. For instance, "Self-help
meetings have boomed in the last decade" was coded MOVEMENT+. (By
contrast, "There are 100 self-help groups" was coded neutrally, as in
MOVEMENT 0.)
4.Portrayed a person or thing in a positive way. For instance, "The
oracle herself resides in a modest subdivision" was coded LEADER+.
5.Spoke well of a phenomenon or movement. For instance, "This
populist alternative rejects the relationship between the weak patient
and the superior doctor" was coded MOVEMENT+.
NEGATIVE
1.Referred negatively to a person's strength (weak, indecisive),
morality (corrupt, bad, dishonest), or activity (lazy, inactive). For
instance, "Bradshaw was drinking to ease the pain" was coded LEADER-.
"More than 80 million Americans are emotionally involved with an
addict or are addicted themselves" was coded PARTICIPANTS-.
NEUTRAL
1.Didn't give an indication as to strength, morality or activity.
2.Was descriptive but didn't portray people, things or events in
either a positive or negative light. For instance, "There are 5
million self-help groups" was coded MOVEMENT 0. "Bradshaw mixes
material in his lectures" was coded LEADER 0.
CLASSIFICATION OF TYPES OF ARTICLES
1.FEATURE (ANECDOTAL): Contained personal stories about people,
emphasized anecdotes and personal narratives rather than facts
about self-help movement.
2.COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS: Opinionated, passed judgment on the
self-help movement, frequently written in the first person.
3.PROFILE: Provided an in-depth view of a person's character
and activity for the reader.
4.STRAIGHT NEWS: Emphasized facts over anecdotes or opinion.
5.BOOK REVIEW: Self-explanatory.
ENDNOTES
{1} Thomas J. Powell, Working With Self-Help (Silver Spring,
Maryland: National Association of Social Workers Press, 1990), p. 32.
{2} Charles Leerhsen, "Unite and Conquer," Newsweek 115 (February 5,
1990), p. 50.
{3} Annabel Hecht, "Support Groups: When Going It Alone Is Going
Nowhere," FDA Consumer (April 1986), p. 29.
{4} Asa Briggs, "Samuel Smiles: The Gospel of Self-Help," History
Today 37 (May 1987), p. 40.
{5} Ibid., p. 40.
{6} Morton A. Lieberman, Leonard D. Borman and Associates, Self-Help
Groups for Coping With Crisis; Origins, Members, Processes and Impact
(San Francisco: Josse-Bass Publishers, 1979), p. 2.
{7} "Unite and Conquer," p. 53.
{8} Frank Riessman, "The New Self-Help Backlash," Social Policy 20
(Summer 1990), p. 43.
{9} Ibid., p. 43.
{10}Working With Self-Help, p. 93.
{11} "Unite and Conquer," p. 50.
{12} Alfred H. Katz and Eugene I. Bender, The Strength Within Us:
Self-Help Groups in the Modern World (New York: New Viewpoints, 1976),
p. 3.
{13} Lisa Belasco, "Groups to Help Women Through Hard Times," Good
Housekeeping 212 (February 1991), p. 245.
{14} Gregg Levoy, "A Place to Belong," Health 21 (February 1989), p.
54.
{15} Frank Riessman, "Self-Help Reporter; The Relationship of
12-Steppers to the Self-Help Movement, " Social Policy (Winter
1990), p. 63.
{16} Francine Lavoie, "Processes Analysis in Self-Help Groups:
Development and Applications," presented at the annual convention of
the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, 1981.
{17} Marilyn Coleman, "Stepfamily Strengths: a Review of Popular
Literature," Family Relations, 34:583-89 (1985).
{18} Tony Atwater and Kwadwo Anokwa, "Race Relations in `Ebony': An
Analysis of Interracial Statements in Selected Feature Stories,"
Journal of Black Studies 21 (March1991), p. 277.
{19} Dennis T. Lowry, "Measures of Network TV News Bias in Campaign
`84, or `Should Jesse Helms Become Dan
Rather's Boss?'", paper presented at the annual meeting of the
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication, Memphis, August 1985.
{20} The Strength in Us: Self-Help Groups in the Modern World , p. 4.
{21} A Place to Belong, p. 54.
{22} Michael Brennan, "Self-Indulgent Self-Help," Newsweek (January
20, 1992), p. 8.
{23} Sue Avery Brown, "Dissing `Dysfunctional'," People (June 22,
1992), p. 57.
{24} Ibid., p. 58.
{25} Guido H. Stempel III, "Increasing Reliability in Content
Analysis," Journalism Quarterly, 32:449 (Fall 1955).
{26} Elayne Rapping, "Hooked on a Feeling," The Nation (March 5,
1990), p. 317.
{27} Ibid., p. 318.
{28} Frank Riessman, "Activists Anonymous?," New York Newsday
(October 12, 1990).
{29} "The New Self-Help Backlash," p. 44.
{30} Maureen Dowd, "Addiction Chic," Mademoiselle 95 (October 1989),
p. 216.
{31} Shearon A. Lowery and Melvin L. DeFleur, Milestones in Mass
Communication Research, 2nd ed. (White Plains, N.Y.: Longman
Inc.,1988), p. 328.
{32} Bernard Cohen, The Press and Foreign Policy (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 13.
{33} Guido H. Stempel III, written coding instructions.
Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communi-
cation (Magazine Div.) Annual Convention, Kansas City MO, 11-14 Aug 1993
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