User-Type Differential Paths for a Media Effect Model: A Test of Self-Regulation Deficiency in Drama Watching for Different Motive-Driven Users

ABSTRACT

Media users are not homogeneous, and research that treats them as such tends to yield inconsistent findings. More nuanced insights into media effect processes might emerge from an identification of qualitatively distinct subgroups, for whom unique media effect processes lead to distinctive outcomes as well. Building on an existing differential susceptibility to media effects model, the current research adds the possibility of differential paths defined by user types. In this revised model, the triggers (e.g. individual characteristics) that lead to media effects and their outcomes (e.g. sociopsychological states) vary across different groups of media users. In the context of problematic drama watching, as a type of media effect, panel data gathered from a representative sample and a latent class analysis reveal that drama viewers can be grouped into types, according to the distinct constellations of motives they have for watching. Individual characteristics identified for such groups can lead to problematic drama watching and associated negative outcomes in the future, which also vary with the types of viewers. The findings affirm that the distinct processes linked to each viewer type correspond well with their distinctive motives.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2024.2326876

Notes

1. Although maladaptive media use research that adopts different perspectives (e.g., pathology, social-cognitive, habits, cognitive – behavioral) uses different terms to refer to mental states resulting from deficient self-control or self-regulation while engaged in media use (e.g., addiction, deficient self-regulated media use, problematic media use), extant reviews tend to adopt the phrase “problematic media use” (or problematic internet use) as an umbrella term (Tokunaga & Rains, 2010). Accordingly, we refer to problematic drama watching, while acknowledging that different research paradigms prefer different terms. Building on previous research, we suggest that problematic media use stems from a perceived lack of control and mental states, not the time spent on media. Research consistently shows that problematic media use and the amount of time spent on media are conceptually and empirically distinct (Caplan, 2003; Tokunaga & Rains, 2010), such that psychosocial factors are more closely linked to problematic media use than to media usage time (LaRose et al., 2003). Even if they often correlate (LaRose et al., 2003; Tokunaga & Rains, 2010), the loss of self-control in media consumption, not its duration, is what indicates a problem (Tokunaga, 2016).

2. These data (DOI = 10.6141/TW-SRDA-D00176-1) are available at https://crctaiwan.dcat.nycu.edu.tw/annualsurvey_e.asp.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Science Council in Taiwan [108-2420-H-001 -005 -SS2].