Dependency and Control
DEPENDENCY AND CONTROL
August E. Grant
Associate Professor and Director
Center for Mass Communications Research
Youda Zhu, Debra Van Tuyll, Jennifer Teeter, Juan Carlos Molleda, Yousef
Mohammad, and Lee Bollinger
Doctoral Candidates
College of Journalism and Mass Communications
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
(803) 777-4464
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Paper submitted to the Annual Convention of the Association of Educators in
Journalism and Mass Communications, XX Division
April 1998
Dependency and Control
DEPENDENCY AND CONTROL
Abstract
A fundamental criterion of any measure is that it be exhaustive,
representing every possible value or dimension of the phenomenon in question.
To date, the assertion that Ball-Rokeach's (1985) six dimensions of individual
media dependency are exhaustive has been unchallenged. It may be true that
every possible goal related to the consumption of media content can be
classified into one of the six dimensions, but there may be additional
dimensions of individual media dependency that have not yet been explored.
This paper proposes and tests the existence of a "control" dimension that
includes two subdimensions: personal control and social control. In this
context, control may be defined as the ability of a person to manipulate the
environment or behavior of themselves (personal control) or of others (social
control). It is not necessary for a person to actually manipulate their
environment. As with other dimensions of individual media dependency, the most
important fact is that an individual has as a cognitive goal the desire to use
the information resources of the media system to control some aspect of their
environment.
The paper discusses the development of measures of personal and social
control, how these measures were integrated into the individual media dependency
scale developed by the media dependency research group at the University of
Southern California, and reports the relationship between the control measures
and the other six dimensions of individual media dependency. A set of eight
hypotheses relating control dependency to media ownership and consumption are
also tested.
Dependency and Control
Introduction
The primary focus of most studies of individual use of mass media is how or
why an individual chooses consumption of a specific media product. In these
studies, the focus is almost always on attributes of the individual, including
goals, needs, gratifications, etc. Most media, however, fulfill a social role
as well, providing the focus for social interactions, a sense of identity for
the user, or cues on how a person can interact with others.
Media system dependency theory (Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur, 1976;
Ball-Rokeach, 1985) provides a framework that attempts to contextualize the
range of personal and social goals implicated in media use. It does this
through the network of organizational relationships within the media system and
across the social systems that make up society. The purpose of this paper is to
extend media system dependency theory in a small way by expanding the set of
goals implicated in the dependency relationship that individuals have with the
media.
The paper begins by exploring the traditional conception of media system
dependency theory, then proposes the existence of two new dimensions of
individual media dependency. Empirical tests of the new dimensions are
presented, and a set of hypotheses related to these new dimensions are tested.
MSD Background
Grant, Guthrie, and Ball-Rokeach (1991) define media system dependency
theory as "an ecological theory that attempts to explore and explain the role of
media in society by defining dependency relationships within and across levels
of analysis" (p. 774). The media system is defined by Ball-Rokeach (1989) as "
. . . an information system in control of three types of
'dependency-engendering' information resources . . . that others have to have
access to in order to attain their goals" (p. 9). Ball-Rokeach identifies these
three types of resources as 1) information gathering or information creating, 2)
information processing, and 3) information dissemination.
A goal of media system dependency theory is to provide a media system and
effects theory that can be applied across levels of analysis. According to
Ball-Rokeach (1989), media system dependency theory focuses on relationships
between the parts within and between small, medium, and large systems. She
explains that:
. . . society is an organism that can only be understood by
knowing the relationships between its parts.... The media system is
assumed to be an important part of the social fabric in modern
societies and it is conceived to have relationships with individuals,
groups, organizations and other social systems. (p. 8)
The focus of media system dependency theory upon dependency relationships
does not change across levels of analysis, but the goals and resources
engendering dependency relationships vary by the unit of analysis. At the
personal level, the theory is concerned with the types and patterns of
dependency that individuals have with the media system in general and specific
media in particular. The theory has even been applied to analyze specific
dependency relations for specialized audiences of a genre of television
programming, television shopping (Grant, Guthrie, and Ball-Rokeach, 1991).
Ball-Rokeach et al. (1984) begin their discussion of the types of
dependency relationships individuals have with the media system by stating that
there are three primary dimensions of human motivation that implicate media
dependency relations: understanding, orientation, and play. They state that the
three dimensions are " . . . equally essential to individual welfare, that they
are exhaustive, but also that they are not mutually exclusive since any media
message may serve more than one type of dependency." They go on to explore two
sub-dimensions for each of the three primary dimensions listed above, making a
personal/social conceptual distinction between the subdimensions (Ball-Rokeach
et al. 1984). These distinctions yield six types of personal media system
relations: action orientation, interaction orientation, self-understanding,
social understanding, solitary play, and social play.
Action orientation is reliance on the information resources of the media
system to get information related to a behavior decision such as making a
purchase or making a voting decision. Interaction orientation is reliance upon
the information resources of the media system to fulfill personal goals related
to understanding how to act or interact with others.
Self-understanding is the reliance upon the information resources of the
media system to fulfill personal goals related to knowing who we are and how we
grow and change. Social understanding refers to reliance upon the information
resources of the media system to understand the social system, including
communities, nations, and cultures.
Solitary play is reliance on the information resources of the media system
to fulfill personal goals of relaxation and enjoyment. Social play is reliance
upon information resources of the media system where the medium is the focus of
a social interaction (examples include media events discussed by Rothenbuhler,
1988 and Katz and Dayan, 1985).
Again, it must be stressed that these six dimensions of individual media
dependency are not independent, but may occur in combination with each other.
For example, individuals might watch a television news program to increase their
knowledge of political events (social understanding), as well as to find out
what the weather will be so they will know what type of clothing to wear (action
orientation). Similarly, a person might watch a particular situation comedy as
a way of relaxing (solitary play), but choose the specific program because he or
she identifies with the characters (self-understanding).
The next important aspect of personal media dependency is the manner in
which people approach the media in the process of pursuing personal goals.
While the goal-related nature of personal dependency relationships seems to
suggest that the audience is "active" in exposing themselves to the media,
Ball-Rokeach (1989) indicates that casual ("passive") viewing may activate a
goal-seeking behavior. A casual viewer, defined as one who is incidentally
exposed while engaged in another activity, may have a dependency activated
during the incidental exposure and, thus, continues to view. (If no
dependencies are activated, viewing is likely to end.) These casual viewers then
have the potential to become as involved in the viewing as viewers who
"actively" decide to expose themselves to television as a means of achieving a
personal goal.
The key variable in determining the degree of involvement is not whether
the initial exposure was "active" or "casual"; it is the degree of arousal,
both cognitive (attention level) and affective (liking/disliking). Arousal is a
function of the intensity of the relevant dependencies, so the dependencies
activated are ultimately more important than how exposure originally took place
(Ball-Rokeach, 1989).
On an operational level, the process of measuring individual media
dependency is similar to measures in the uses and gratifications tradition, but
the differences are both distinctive and subtle. In media system dependency
theory, the audience, be it an individual, a group or a social system, is
conceptualized as becoming dependent upon media resources to meet one or more of
these goals. This presumption illustrates a tension between media system
dependency theory and the uses and gratifications perspective, as the latter
presupposes media use based upon audience needs. The difference between these
two theories at this point is subtle, for dependency almost implies need. And,
indeed, this is the heart of the conflict between these two theories, both of
which accept that media use can lead to media dependency. The question is, what
is the origin of the dependency: audience goals or audience needs? The answer
to this question depends on whether you are a disciple of Elihu Katz or of
Sandra Ball-Rokeach, though some uses and gratifications studies have discussed
media use as being goal directed (Palmgreen, Wenner & Rosengren. 1985; Rubin,
19xx).
Perhaps the most distinctive difference between these two approaches is in
the level of analysis explored. Uses and gratifications theory functions at the
level of the individual, examining how individual audience members use media to
meet their needs. Media system dependency theory, on the other hand, examines
intra-level relationships. As DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach (1976) point out, it is
the media system's relationship with individuals, groups or social systems that
is at the heart of this theory.
Individual Media Dependency measures
The first quantitative measure of individual media dependency was attempted
by Ball-Rokeach, Rokeach and Grube (1984). Their 11-item scale included three
items each to measure social understanding and self-understanding, with two
items for interaction orientation, and one item each for solitary play, social
play, and action orientation. (A disproportionate number of items was used to
measure the understanding dimensions because these were a primary focus of the
research.) The instrument asked each respondent "How often do you use
television to:" for the eleven items, using a three-point response scale of
"often", "sometimes", and "never."
The next major step in the evolution of the individual media dependency
(IMD) scale was made by Grant et al. (1991) who refined the scale for their
television shopping research by increasing the number of items for each
dimension to two, yielding a total of twelve items. The introductory question
for their scale was changed to: "In your daily life, how helpful is television
to:", with a five-point response scale from "Not at all helpful" to "Extremely
helpful." The number of items in the scale was expanded to 18 by Grant (1989),
who increased the number of items for each dimension from two to three, using
items created by Ball-Rokeach et al. (1984), Grant et al. (1991), Power et al.
(1988), and Aydin et al. (1991).
The lack of a standard measure of individual-level media dependency used in
these studies resulted in a desire by the researchers to work together to create
a standard measure of media dependency that could be applied across media.
Grant (1996) reports that the process of standardizing the scale started with a
series of focus groups in which respondents talked about how and why they used a
variety of media, with attention to commercial content as well as editorial or
program content. The focus group research supported the proposition that the
six conceptual dimensions of media dependency were unique. A series of scales
were then constructed and tested on a demographically diverse population to
determine discriminability of items and dimensions across media, wording
effects, and overall scale reliability (alpha) (Grant, 1996).
The result of this project, undertaken by the Media System Dependency
Research Group at the University of Southern California, was an 18-item scale
that was tested in a 1989 study of over 1000 respondents in San Bernardino,
California and Austin, Texas. In this test, the scale was used to measure
dependency upon four media: newspapers, radio, magazines, and television. The
reliability measures (Cronbach's alpha) were .93 for the newspaper scale, .93
for the radio scale, .92 for the magazine scale, and .93 for the television
scale. Over-time reliability of the scale was tested by administering the scale
to a subsample at two points, one year apart. The test-retest correlations
(Pearson) were .90 for newspapers (p<.001), .69 for radio (p<.005), .75 for
magazines (p<.005), and .90 for television (p<.001). (Reliability measures for
each of the six dimensions and confirmatory factor analyses for application of
the scale to four media are reported by Ball-Rokeach , Grant, and Horvath,
1995.)
The complete, 18-item scale detailed by Grant (1996) has been used without
modification in most studies of individual media dependency relationships over
the past few years. We believe that it may now be time to reconsider the
proposition that every media-related goal can be expressed as a type of play,
orientation, or understanding.
Control
A fundamental criterion of any measure is that it be exhaustive,
representing every possible value or dimension of the phenomenon in question.
To date, the assertion that Ball-Rokeach's (1985) six dimensions of individual
media dependency are exhaustive has been unchallenged. It may be true that
every possible goal related to the consumption of media content can be
classified into one of the six dimensions, but there may be additional
dimensions of individual media dependency that have not yet been explored.
This paper proposes the existence of a "control" dimension that includes
two subdimensions: personal control and social control. In this context,
control may be defined as the ability of a person to manipulate the environment
or behavior of themselves (personal control) or of others (social control). It
is not necessary for a person to actually manipulate his or her environment. As
with other dimensions of individual media dependency, the most important fact is
that an individual has as a cognitive goal the desire to use the information
resources of the media system to control some aspect of the environment.
The existence of this dimension was first hypothesized when a question was
asked about which of the six original dimensions of individual media dependency
was implicated when someone turns on the radio or television when they are not
home as a means of scaring off potential burglars. This situation clearly
involves a dependency upon the media, but the media content is targeted at
others instead of to the individual who is attempting to protect his or her
home.
The same discussion yielded a second exampleDthe person who plays a car
stereo system or boom box at full volume so that others may "enjoy" the content.
A discussion of these two dimensions yielded the concept of the "control"
dimensions that will be proposed and tested in this paper.
Dimensions of Personal Control
Previous research indicates a number of possible ways in which people use
media to control their own environments. The most frequent of these is the use
of the media as a "companion," which has been extensively explored in research
into the uses and gratifications of television (McQuail, Blumler, and Brown,
1972) and radio (Mendolsohn, 1979; Tramer & Jeffres, 1983).
Similar research has looked at the use of the medium to provide background
music (or, in the case of television, "video wallpaper"). This type of media
use may also be a form of personal control, as an individual uses the media to
set a "mood." Examples include background music services such as Muzak which
are formatted so that the flow and beat of the music interacts with that of the
worker or shopper (McFarland, 1990).
Research on the use of remote control devices includes reference to the
goal of having a constant ability to control media content. A related issue is
the availability of options. Increasing the number of options available to a
user (number of channels, number of newspapers, number of books) implies a
greater degree of control. On the other hand, Heeter's (1985) exploration of
program choice styles suggests that some people attempt to review all options
before choosing a specific program or channel (an "exhaustive" search strategy).
For these people, additional options may take a measure of control away from the
user as he/she is compelled to review all options before making a choice.
Previous studies show that people who have remote control watch a greater
variety of channels than people who do not have remote control (Cornwell &
Others, 1993; Kaye & Sapolsky, 1997), and that about 30 percent of the adult
television viewing population could be considered heavy RCD users. However,
Ferguson (1992) concludes that the use of RCDs do not substantially increase
channel repertoire, which is the number of available channels. Consideration of
remote control use as a means of personal control might assist understanding of
remote control use.
The media also play a role in a person's self-identity. In addition to
using the media to understand who they are and how they grow or change
(self-understanding), the media can also be used as an expression of
self-identity. The degree to which a person makes use of the information
resources of the media system to express their identity is a dimension of that
person's dependency upon the media for personal control.
Dimensions of Social Control
The primary difference between personal and social control is that the
former relates to the use of the media to control one's own environment while
the latter relates to control over the environment of others. An easy example
is the selection of specific media products by parents for their children. In
fact, families with small children adopted VCRs earlier than other groups
(Komiya and Litman, 1991), and studies of VCR use indicate that parents make
extensive use of pre-recorded videos which they believe are "safe" as an option
to broadcast television content over which parents have less control.
In addition to personal control, the remote control literature discussed
above introduces a possible dimension of social controlDthe use of the remote
control device to make viewing decisions for a group. Considering Emerson's
(1962) classic definition that dependency is the inverse of power, the use of
the remote to control the viewing options of others is definitely a dimension of
social control.
Heeter and Greenberg (1985) argue that men are more likely than women to
use RCDs and that young adults are more likely to use RCDs than older adults.
Earlier studies also show that men usually exercise dominance of the remote
control and that women are less willing to use remote control in the presence of
their husbands (Morley, 1986; Perse & Ferguson, 1993). Copeland's (1989) study
suggests that constant channel changing within families causes friction. These
findings clearly suggest that the remote control device is a tool used to
control the viewing behavior and options of others.
The "boom box" example discussed above introduces a different aspect of
social control dependency. In addition to expressing their own identity, a
person can choose to use a medium such as music, billboards, or video to intrude
another person's life, in effect forcing them to consume an unrequested (and
perhaps unwanted) media product. Indeed, this type of social control can be an
effective mechanism for a person who feels alienated or detached from society to
"fight back" by forcing their "world" upon society.
The above examples indicate that some uses of the media may be related to
both personal control and social control at the same time. This observation is
consistent with Ball-Rokeach's (1985) explanation of the original six
dimensions, in which she proposed that a person could simultaneously use the
media to achieve a number of different goals.
This project, therefore, will not assume that the two control dimensions
are orthogonal from the other six dimensions of individual media dependency, but
rather will be moderately correlated in the same manner that the original six
dimensions are intercorrelated.
Control Dependency and Media Consumption
Verification of the existence of the two control dimensions adds little to
media system dependency theory unless these dimensions can be related to other
variables. Two possibilities are the social and psychological variables that
provide the foundation for personal and social dependency and the type of media
exposure that results from depending upon the information resources of the media
system to fulfill goals of personal and social dependency. This exploratory
project will attempt the latter, examining the relationship between personal and
social control and specific uses of television and radio.
Hypotheses:
Although all measures of media use should be related directly or indirectly
to dependency relationships, specific measures of media use should be more
strongly related to personal and social control. Our first hypothesis relates
channel repertoire to personal control dependency. We expect a relationship
between personal control and unaided channel repertoire because personal control
is related to familiarity with options. Accordingly, we hypothesize:
H1: Controlling for television exposure, personal control dependency will
be positively related to channel repertoire.
One dimension of personal control dependency is the individual's desire to
use the media to control their environment. Personal media such as portable
televisions and radios play this role. Because some of these media are consumed
through headphones (such as "Walkman"-style radios), while others are designed
for "sharing", we propose the following three hypotheses:
H2: Owners of portable televisions will have higher personal control
dependency upon television than non-owners.
H3: Personal control radio dependency will be positively related to use of
walkman-style portable radios.
H4: Social control radio dependency will be positively related to use of
"boom box" style radios.
The advent of the videocassette recorder has given television viewers the
same ability that pre-recorded music lovers have enjoyed for decades: the
ability for people to not only choose to watch or hear what they want when they
want it, but it also allows them to own movies and other television programming,
as well as musical recordings. In addition to controlling their own media
consumption, it is possible that these media can be used to control the
environment of others. Accordingly, we expect:
H5: Personal control television dependency will be positively related to
the size of a person's video library.
H6: Social control television dependency will be positively related to the
size of a person's video library.
H7: Personal control radio dependency will be positively related to the
size of a person's music library.
H8: Social control radio dependency will be positively related to the size
of a person's music library.
Methods
Operationalization of control dimension
The control dimension was operationalized in two phases. In the first
phase, qualitative research, including focus groups and case studies, were used
to explore and define possible measures of each of the two control dimensions.
The second phase then tested a new, 26-item measure of individual media
dependency consisting of the established 18-item IMD scale with four additional
items for each of the two control dimensions.
The focus group research yielded four possible items for each dimension.
Rather than unilaterally eliminating one item from each dimension (to provide
measures comparable to those of the other six dimensions), all four items were
included in the survey to allow the empirical results to help determine the most
appropriate items for the scale. The eight items are listed in Table 1. The
complete list of 26 dependency items appears in Appendix A; the actual
instrument appears in Appendix B.
Table 1
Measures of Personal and Social Control
Personal control:
Give you a choice about the information you receive.
Set a background mood for whatever you are doing.
Reflect your personality to others.
Keep me company when no one else is around.
Social Control:
Give you some control over the information received by others.
Create an atmosphere when I get together with friends.
Change someone else's mood.
Share important moral values with others.
Other Measures
Channel repertoire (unaided) was operationalized as the sum of the number
of all broadcast and cable channels a person watched for at least an hour during
an average week, using separate questions for broadcast and cable. Size of VCR
library was operationalized as the sum of the number of pre-recorded movies (not
including children's), children's videos and movies, exercise videos, music
videos, home videos made with a camcorder, and television programs taped off the
air. Two questions each were asked about walkman-style radios and boomboxes;
the first asked how many a person owned and the second asked how many hours they
used each on an average day. Size of pre-recorded music library was a
single-item measure.
Data Collection
Three different methods, telephone survey, mail survey and face-to-face
interview, were used in order to include as many different groups of people as
possible. The wording of the questions in all the three instruments was the
same despite the fact that each was customized to suit the method used. All
samples were drawn from Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina. Data
collection began in late November 1997 and was completed in mid December 1997.
Telephone survey. A sample of 273 telephone numbers was drawn, yielding 36
completed calls. There were altogether 78 ineligible telephone numbers
(disconnected, changed, no eligibles, fax machines, business, non-working, not
in service for incoming calls, and funny noise), 195 eligible telephone numbers
(all others), yielding a response rate of 18.5%.
Mail survey. A random sample of 120 local residents was selected from the
city directory. A three-wave method was used, with the first and third waves
containing a cover letter, a stamped return envelope and a questionnaire, and
the second wave was a post card. Ultimately, 41 completed surveys were
received, for a response rate of 34.2%.
Face-to-face interview. Altogether 36 interviews were completed.
Interviewers used three different intercept protocols to choose interviewees.
One group selected each third person that came into a cafeteria. Another group
chose every fifth person that exited a discount store. The final group chose to
interview at a random interval people who waited to attend a football game.
Table 2 Response Rates
Phone
Mail
Total
sample size
195
120
315
# of responses
36
41
77
(113 including face-to face interviews)
response rate
18.5%
34.2%
24.4%
Results:
Data were analyzed in two steps. First, the control dimensions were tested
and measured, then the hypotheses were tested.
Control Dimension
The first step in analyzing the control dimension was determining which
three items to use for each measure. Regarding the social control dimension,
interviewers reported confusion by respondents with the "Share important moral
values" item. The item also demonstrated weak inter-item correlation (.19) with
the other three items in the scale, with the television scale yielding a
four-item reliability (coefficient alpha) of .67 as compared to a three-item
alpha of .76. This item was dropped from the analysis.
Choosing the most appropriate three items for personal control was more
problematic. None of the four items generated confusion in respondents, and all
four measured different dimensions of personal control (choice, mood,
companionship, and personal identity). The reliabilities for the four item
scale was equal to or greater than any set of three for both radio (.68) and
television (.67). Ultimately, the decision was made to drop the personal
identity item "Reflect your personality to others" because of its perceived
similarity to the self-understanding and interaction orientation dimensions.
Next, correlations between the two control dimensions and the other six
dimensions were computed for both radio and television. All correlations were
between .25 and .78, indicating that the control dimensions were related to
other dimensions of individual media dependency, but were not so strongly
related that they measured the same concepts. (The highest correlation was
between personal control and solitary play (r=.78, p<.001). The lowest
correlation was between social control and social understanding (r=.25, p<.001).
The range of correlations is similar to the range of correlations among the six
original dimensions.
Finally, internal reliability (coefficient alpha) was computed for the
radio and television measures of all dimensions of individual media dependency.
The reliabilities of the six original dimensions ranged from .59 to .80. The
reliabilities on the personal control dimensions were .66 for radio and .65 for
television; and for social control were .64 for radio and .69 for television.
All reliabilities are reported in Table 3.
Dependency and Control
Table 3
Reliabilities of Dependency Scales
Variable
TV
Radio
Social Understanding
0.80
0.72
Self Understanding
0.74
0.59
Social Play
0.70
0.63
Solitary Play
0.85
0.76
Interaction Orientation
0.75
0.61
Action Orientation
0.80
0.68
Social control
0.69
0.64
Personal Control
0.65
0.66
Total (24 item) Dependency
.94
.93
The reliabilities for the new control dimensions are slightly lower than
most of the original six dimensions. Considering the sensitivity of the alpha
measure to the number of items in a scale, along with the fact that these were
three-item scales the reliabilities were deemed acceptable.
Hypothesis Tests
H1: Controlling for television exposure, personal control dependency will
be positively related to channel repertoire. This hypothesis was not
supported. Personal control dependency was positively correlated with channel
repertoire, (r=.24; p<.05), but the relationship disappeared when controlling
for the amount of television a person watched.
H2: Owners of portable televisions will have higher personal control
dependency upon television than non-owners. This hypothesis was supported, with
owners averaging 10.1 on the personal control dependency scale vs. 8.6 for
non-owners (F=8.1; p=.005). Furthermore, post-hoc data analysis indicated that
the number of portable TVs owned was positively correlated with personal control
dep. (r=.25, p<.01)
H3: Personal control radio dependency will be positively related to use of
walkman-style portable radios. This hypothesis was not directly supported, as
amount of use of walkman-style radios was not related to personal control radio
dependency. Post-hoc analysis, however, indicated a significant relationship
between ownership of walkman-style radios and personal control dependency (r=28,
p<.005).
H4: Social control radio dependency will be positively related to use of
"boom box" style radios. This hypothesis was supported (r=.24; p<.01).
Post-hoc analysis also indicated a significant relationship between number of
boomboxes owned and level of social control radio dependency (r=.19; p<.05).
H5: Personal control television dependency will be positively related to
the size of a person's video library. This hypothesis was supported (r=.25,
p<.01). Additional analysis indicated that, of the six types of home videos
listed, personal control dependency was related only to number of pre-recorded
movies owned (r=.26, p<.01).
H6: Social control television dependency will be positively related to the
size of a person's video library. This hypothesis was supported, but the
relationship between these variables is weak (r=.17; p<.05). Again, of the six
types of videos listed, the only significant relationship was a relatively weak
one with the number of pre-recorded movies owned. (r=.19, p<.05). Surrisingly,
there was no relationship between the number of children's videos and movies
owned and social control dependency, either among the entire sample or among a
subsample of respondents with children.
H7: Personal control radio dependency will be positively related to the
size of a person's music library. This hypothesis was not supported.
H8: Social control radio dependency will be positively related to the size
of a person's music library. This hypothesis was not supported.
Discussion
These results clearly indicate the presence of the control dimensions and
the utility of these dimensions in explaining different types of media usage.
The idea that people depend upon the media to control both their own environment
and the environment and behavior of others enlarges the conception of media
dependency in general.
Analysis of variance in personal and social control within a population may
be equally important to understand the manner in which individuals develop
relationships with specific media. Some individuals will have comparatively
weak dependency in either personal or social control, while others may have
strong reliance upon the media for the same dimension. The differences in
dependency relationships might be important in understanding variance in media
use.
The findings with regard to social control dependency suggest that further
research should be conducted into the effects of viewing group upon an
individual's program choices and the effects of those choices. Although the
role of the viewing group has been discussed, most notably by Webster and
Wakshlag (1983), most research into television viewing behavior continues to
focus on the individual and how their attributes and attitudes predict their
behaviors, with little attention to social factors.
These measures must be verified on other data sets (especially larger ones)
before the new items are permanently added to the 18-item dependency scale. The
measures must also be tested on media other than television and radio, with
newspapers and magazines being ideal targets for future investigation.
In testing these measures further, some attention should be paid to the
aggregate measure of dependency created by summing the intensity of all
dimensions of a person's dependency relationship with a medium. Previous
research (as explored by Grant, 1994) has made much greater use of this
aggregate measure of a person's dependency relationship than of the
subdimensions.
A final implication of these findings is that individual media dependency
may not be limited to the personal and social dimensions of play, orientation,
understanding, and control. Although the research conducted to date does not
suggest additional dimensions, further inquiry may identify new dimensions.
This project began by asserting that the original measure of individual
media dependency may not have been exhaustive. It concludes by observing that
the proposed measure may not be exhaustive, either. As always, further research
is warranted.
Dependency and Control
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Dependency and Control
Appendix A
26 Items in the Individual Media Dependency Scale
ACTION ORIENTATION
Decide where to go for services such as health, financial, or household.
Figure out what to buy.
Plan where to go for evening and weekend activities.
INTERACTION ORIENTATION
Discover better ways to communicate with others.
Think about how to act with friends, relatives, or people you work with.
Get ideas about how to approach others in important or difficult situations.
SELFUNDERSTANDING
Gain insight into why you do some of the things that you do.
Imagine what you'll be like as you grow older.
Observe how others cope with problems or situations like yours.
SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING
Stay on top of what is happening in the community.
Find out how the country is doing.
Keep up with world events.
SOLITARY PLAY
Unwind after a hard day or week.
Relax when you are by yourself.
Have something to do when nobody else is around.
SOCIAL PLAY
Give you something to do with your friends.
Have fun with family or friends.
Be a part of events you enjoy without having to be there.
PERSONAL CONTROL (New)
Give you a choice about the information you receive.
Set a background mood for whatever you are doing.
Keep me company when no one else is around.
Reflect your personality to others.*
SOCIAL CONTROL (New)
Share important moral values with others.*
Give you some control over the information received by others.
Create an atmosphere when I get together with friends.
Change someone else's mood.
* designates item dropped from hypothesis testing
Dependency and Control
Appendix B
Individual Media Dependency Scale Used in Data Collection
1. We would like you to consider the ways that you use television and radio in
YOUR daily life. Consider the commercials as well as the programs. For each of
the ways listed, please indicate how much you rely on television and radio by
circling the number that best represents how helpful television and radio are to
you.
In YOUR Daily Life, How NOT AT ALL EXTREMELY
Helpful are Television and Radio To: HELPFUL HELPFUL
1 2 3 4 5
a) Stay on top of what is happening in the community?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
b) Unwind after a hard day or week?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
c) Share important moral values with others?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
d) Gain insight into why you do some of the things that you do?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
e) Give you a choice about the information you receive?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
f) Discover better ways to communicate with others?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
g) Decide where to go for services, such as health, financial, or household?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
h) Relax when you are by yourself?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
i) Find out how the country is doing?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
j) Imagine what you'll be like as you grow older?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
k) Set a background mood for whatever you are doing?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
l) Give you something to do with your friends?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
In YOUR Daily Life, How NOT AT ALL EXTREMELY
Helpful are Television and Radio To: HELPFUL HELPFUL
1 2 3 4 5
m) Figure out what to buy?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
n) Think about how to act with friends, relatives, or people you work with?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
o) Have fun with family and friends?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
p) Give you some control over information that other people receive?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
q) Keep you company when you are alone?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
r) Observe how others cope with problems or situations like yours?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
s) Keep up with world events?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
t) Reflect your personality to others?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
u) Be a part of events that you enjoy without having to be there?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
v) Get ideas about how to approach others in important or difficult situations?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
w) Create an atmosphere when you get together with friends?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
x) Plan where to go for evening and weekend activities?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
y) Change someone else's mood?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
`a) Have something to do when nobody else is around?
TELEVISION 1 2 3 4 5
RADIO 1 2 3 4 5
Dependency and Control
Additional notes for modification of paper for AEJMC
xxADD PARAGRAPH ON VIDEO LIBRARIES AND CONTROL FROM DOBROW REFERENCE for
AEJ paper
Add (Ferguson, 19xx; Webster, 19xx; Greenberg and xx, 19xx) remote control
devices also Studies indicate that remote controls are most likely to be
operated by xxADD DISCUSSION FROM FERGUSON ARTICLE HERE. Insert in power
(emerson) discussion)
Need cite: VCR and kids: parental control
Clarify "portable" television
Relate IMSD measures to U& G measures
Additional data analysesDsocial control reliabilities, all six conv.
Reliabilities x2
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