Long‐term norms and cognitive structures as shapers of television viewer activity

This study examined the relationships among viewers’ family communication patterns, sex and pregnancy experience, music video viewing motivations, and viewers’ cognitive processing of a music video about teenage pregnancy. Respondents were high school students, who watched a music video and filled out questionnaires on two occasions. Results of a path analysis demonstrated different paths for girls and boys: For girls, family communication patterns and sexual/pregnancy experience were directly related to the activity with which they processed the video; for boys, family communication patterns had a direct path to activity, but also had a path through observational goals. Results suggest that family communication patterns may operate as enduring general cognitive structures that predict viewer activity.