ALCOHOL PORTRAYAL ON PRIME-TIME TELEVISION - MANIFEST AND LATENT MESSAGES

Objective: The research in this article is designed to improve our und erstanding of alcohol messages embedded in prime-time television, espe cially when adolescent characters are shown portraying or consuming al cohol. Method: Manifest and latent content analyses are used to assess the frequency of alcohol portrayal in prime-time television and the p ersonality traits (powerful, admirable, smart) of characters shown con suming or portraying alcohol on prime-time television. The sample incl udes 224 hours of programming across 276 programs on four major networ ks. Results: Alcoholic beverages were the most frequently portrayed fo od or drink. The prominence of alcohol in prime-time television applie s to all characters, including adolescents. The proportion of all food and drink incidents accounted for by alcohol equaled .14 for male and .20 for female adolescent television characters. Moreover, when adole scent characters are involved with alcohol incidents, they are mon: li kely to be shown consuming this alcohol than are adults. A significant finding was that adolescents portraying alcohol in programming were s hown to have significantly more negative personality characteristics t han did characters in older age groups. Conclusions: Compared with oth er studies, this study finds higher rates of alcohol portrayal by adol escents on prime-time television. The negative character portrayal of adolescents involved with alcohol is encouraging. However, adult and h igh-income characters involved with alcohol, who might serve as role m odels for younger adults are, on average, shown with positive personal ity characteristics.