Existing analyses of Black women on TV have tended to focus on their general prevalence or employment/family status. As such, less is known about the extent to which they reflect broader attributes associated with women and with Black women. Accordingly, we examined portrayals of Black women on 12 scripted programs, focusing on 33 behaviors associated with mothering, friendship, work, and stress, in addition to role status and appearance. Our results indicated that Black women on scripted television programs were often single, mothers, dark-skinned, thin, and in high-status occupations. The most prevalent behaviors depicted were giving orders or commands, engaging in occupation-related actions or statements, and showing emotion (e.g., crying, storming off). Implications of these characterizations are discussed, both in terms of the breadth and accuracy of their representation and in the potential ways they may be perceived by viewers.

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Portrayals of women on reality TV frequently showcase a traditional feminine ideal that prioritizes sexual appeal, domesticity, and heteronormativity. Because Black viewers consume TV at high levels, and because Black women are prominently featured, this content could help shape their assumptions about femininity, especially if it is perceived as authentic. We therefore tested whether regular exposure to mainstream and Black-oriented reality programs is associated with beliefs about femininity among Black viewers and whether these beliefs are also linked with perceptions of the content's realism. Participants were 478 African American adults (M ϭ 26.10) who indicated their exposure to 38 mainstream and 12 Black-oriented reality programs and their perceptions of realism. Assessments of gender beliefs included 4 subscales from the Femininity Ideology Scale and the Heterosexual Script Scale. As expected, greater exposure to mainstream reality programs predicted stronger expectations that women should be deferent and should conform to stereotypic appearance norms. Greater exposure to Black-oriented programs predicted greater acceptance of women as emotional and of the Heterosexual Script. When perceived realism was included, it emerged as a strong, direct predictor of all 5 belief variables; there were no interactions of exposure and realism. Implications for relationships are discussed. Public Policy Relevance StatementSurveying a national sample of African American adults, we found that frequent consumption of popular mainstream and Black-oriented reality TV programs is each associated with holding more stereotypical views about women. Perceiving these reality TV programs to be realistic is an even stronger predictor of holding these beliefs.

Children's beliefs and stereotypes about racial groups emerge early and are shaped by many forces, both internal (e.g., categorization skills) and external. Media content and models are believed to play a prominent role in this learning, especially because portrayals are often stereotypical, youth may have little exposure to other racial groups, and youth consume media for several hours a day. However, empirical research testing media contributions to developing racial attitudes has been sparse, and has focused mainly on positive interventions among White youth, and on diverse effects among Black youth. For White youth, findings indicate that participation in media‐related interventions presenting pro‐diversity messaging can improve attitudes toward Black Americans and immigrants. Among Black youth, findings indicate that the age of the viewer and race of the portrayals matter, and that older Black youth are more likely drawn to and influenced by Black media characters, and often in a positive way. Finally, diverse forms of media use are linked to lower self‐esteem among Latinx youth. Findings among Asian American, Native American, and Middle Eastern youth are too minimal to summarize. We call for more research of any kind to help build a knowledge base in this field.

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