Television images of mental illness: Results of a metropolitan Washington media watch

Wahl, Otto F.; Roth, Rachel

doi:10.1080/08838158209364028

Cited by 62 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Wahl and Roth (1982) examined prime-time television content and found that "not only did mental illness appear to be a common theme in both news and entertainment media, but the depiction of the mentally ill in these media was found to be decidedly negative" (p. 600). Fruth and Padderud (1985) concluded that "daytime serials perpetuate a negative image of mental illness .…”

Section: Content Analysesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Television and attitudes toward mental health issues: Cultivation analysis and the third‐person effect

Diefenbach

West

2007

Journal Community Psychology

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A television content analysis and survey of 419 community respondents supports the hypothesis that media stereotypes affect public attitudes toward mental health issues. A content analysis of network, prime-time television demonstrates that portrayals are violent, false, and negative. The mentally disordered are portrayed as 10 times more likely to be a violent criminal than nonmentally disordered television characters. A survey demonstrates that as television viewing increases so does the belief among viewers that locating mental health services in residential neighborhoods will endanger the residents. Viewers who watch television news are less likely to support living next to someone who is mentally ill. The survey also tests the third-person effect, and finds that viewers believe television portrayals of mental illness affect others more than themselves. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.We learn a lot from television. Some of these lessons are positive (Abelman, 1985;Brown & Cody, 1991;Rosenkoetter, 1999), but many lessons embedded in the content of television are potentially negative. Television has perpetuated many stereotypes throughout its history, including unrealistic portrayals of racial groups (Dixon & Linz, 2002;Rada, 2001;Reid, 1979) and gender roles (Coltrane & Adams, 1997;Glascock, 2001;Scharrer, 2001). Networks are now, arguably, more sensitive to these criticisms than in decades past, but there are still areas of concern to scholars and critics. An area of analysis addressed in the current research is the portrayal of mental health issues on television.The present research explores the cultivation of television viewers' attitudes toward mental health issues and tests the third-person effect. Cultivation analysis uses content A R T I C L ECorrespondence to: Donald L. Diefenbach, Department of Mass Communication, One University Heights, CPO # 2120, Asheville, NC 28804. E-mail: ddiefenb@unca.edu analysis of television to generate hypotheses about viewer attitudes and beliefs, which are tested with a community survey. Originally designed to study the impact of television violence on viewers (Gerbner & Gross, 1976), cultivation analysis has expanded in scope to explore other areas as diverse as marriage (Segrin & Nabi, 2002), the paranormal (Sparks, Nelson, & Campbell, 1997), and compulsive buying (Kwak, Zinkhan, & Dominick, 2002). Davidson (1983) found that research participants were likely to attribute more media influence to others than to themselves. He coined the term third-person effect, which has been applied to a number of media issues, including pornography (Lo & Wei, 2002), music lyrics (McLeod, Eveland, & Nathanson, 1997), and television violence (Hoffner & Buchanan, 2002;Salwen & Depagne, 2001). The third-person effect has been demonstrated to be particularly prevalent for issues and effects that are considered socially undesirable, such as stereotyping (Duck, Hogg, & Terry, 1999). The present research tests this effect for portrayals of mental illness on television. LITERATURE REVIEW Content...

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Section: Content Analysesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Television and attitudes toward mental health issues: Cultivation analysis and the third‐person effect

Diefenbach

West

2007

Journal Community Psychology

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“…In particular, they tend to be depicted as inadequate, unlikable, and dangerous. Wahl and Roth (1982) found that mentally ill characters in prime time television programs tended to lack social identity; they were typically single (43%) or of unknown marital status (31 Yo) and frequently without identifiable employment (49%). The adjectives found most frequently applicable to the mentally ill characters were unfavorable ones such as "confused," "aggressive," "dangerous," and "unpredictable"; positive adjectives such as "poised," "loyal," "friendly," and "honest," were found to be far less frequently applicable.…”

Section: Accuracy Of Depiction Of Mental Illnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass media images of mental illness: A review of the literature

Wahl

1992

J. Community Psychol.

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189

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Studies that address the frequency, accuracy, and impact of mass media portrayals of mental illness are reviewed. Numerous studies of frequency and content of media depictions support clinical observations that mental illness is frequently depicted in the mass media, particularly the entertainment media, and that these depictions tend to be inaccurate and unfavorable. Limitations, such as age of the studies and mixed attention to psychiatry, psychology, and mental illness, however, leave a need for further such studies. Investigations of the specific impact of media images of mental illness support the belief that media presentations about mental illness, including those in entertainment form, can have significant effects on attitudes toward mental illness and treatment. These studies, however, are few in number and have demonstrated only short‐term effects of specific portrayals. Further research is needed to demonstrate longlasting effects and the overall impact of multiple, repeated, media depictions.

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“…In particular, research has shown a high prevalence of negative stereotypes of people with mental illnesses as dangerous, different, unresponsive to treatment, and incapable of meaningful recovery~Diefenbach, 1997;Signorielli, 1989;Wahl, 1992Wahl, , 1995Wahl & Roth, 1982!. It is unlikely that the negative attitudes documented among adult populations emerge full-blown at puberty. In fact, there is evidence that the foundations for these attitudes are set in childhood~Wahl, 2002!, and mass media, again, may be a significant contributor.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%